[MSN] $26,000 piece of art likely became a puddle

[Museum Security Network Mailing list]

$26,000 piece of art likely became a puddle
The sculpture stolen from an Everett park may have fetched $100 for 
metal thieves.

/By David Chircop/
/Herald Writer
/

EVERETT - A bronze sculpture stolen from an Everett park last September 
would only bring about $100 if it was melted down and recycled.

But the theft of the 150-pound art piece wound up costing the city's 
insurance provider $26,000 to replace.

Sultan sculptor Kevin Pettelle believes metal thieves took his 
31/2-foot-tall piece, "Neck Fragment," which was stolen from Evergreen 
Arboretum and Gardens in Legion Park.

A city insurance policy paid Pettelle for the loss of the work, which 
the city had been leasing the statue for $500 a year.

"It's disheartening and I feel violated, especially if it's going for 
something as superficial as drugs," said Pettelle, whose work primarily 
focuses on the human body. "My guess is that it was taken for the bronze 
and that it's long gone."

"Neck Fragment" had been on display with permanent art pieces and 
sculptures on loan at the 2.4-acre arboretum since the summer of 2005.

Somebody knocked over the work and sawed the metal sculpture from its base.

When he first started sculpting 27 years ago, Pettelle said no one could 
have predicted that people would one day steal bronze sculptures to melt 
down for the metal. That was the sort of thing one might expect with 
sculptures made of more precious metals, such as silver.

But the times have changed.

His hunch that the bronze was recycled is based on a nationwide rash of 
metal thefts.

Prices for copper, the main ingredient of bronze, which is an alloy, 
have skyrocketed recently, a result of demand in China and other quickly 
developing countries. A consequence of that markup has been an increase 
in thefts.

Around the Puget Sound area, metal thieves have been particularly 
brazen, stealing 2,000 feet of power line that was downed in November's 
snowstorm. In February, Snohomish County PUD reported that more than 
half a mile of wire from streetlights on U.S. 2 near Index was stolen.

In March, thieves in Federal Way made off with a handmade 23-pound 
copper gong from Three Trees Yoga & Healing Arts Center, which members 
feared ended up in a scrap yard.

Other notable metal thefts in the news include brass flag holders, 
ripped from the graves of veterans in Pennsylvania and a brass church 
bell lifted from a heritage site in Quebec.

Like pawnbrokers, scrap metal dealers are required to record the 
identities of their suppliers. Not all operate above board, police say.

Authorities this week raided a south Seattle scrap yard, which police 
say was knowingly buying stolen metal items, including copper wire from 
utility companies.

The theft of the sculpture from Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens in 
Legion Park marks the first time anything was stolen from a public arts 
program, in which the city leases sculptures from local artists, Everett 
spokeswoman Kate Reardon said.

The four-year-old program, run by the city's municipal arts department, 
has a total of 17 sculptures downtown along Colby Avenue, and a handful 
at the Arboretum.

Later this year, it plans to develop a brochure to promote the downtown 
sculpture walk.

Reardon said city park rangers patrol the area where the sculpture was 
stolen, but can't always avoid determined thieves.

"We rely on the eyes and ears of people out there," she said.

/Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop at heraldnet.com 
<mailto:dchircop at heraldnet.com>./

*Help sought*

Anyone with information about the sculpture is asked to call the Everett 
Police Department's tip line at 425-257-8450.

 http://heraldnet.com/