The Barometer Online

Issue date: 4/13/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Contributed Photo Sculpture shown here has been missing since December.

Oregon artist Lee Kelly's sculpture has been around for a number of years, but he's not quite sure how many.

The welded, three-piece steel sculpture - likely a product of the 1970s, Kelly said - vanished in December from outside the Valley Library.

A donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, gave the sculpture to the library in September. Library administrators placed it in a garden behind the building along Jefferson Way.

On Dec. 13, as winter term came to a close, the library staff noticed that it was gone. In October, it had been moved to another location and later re-installed, but this time officials couldn't find it anywhere.

The piece sits about two feet off the ground, its about three feet across and less than one foot wide, said Kerrie Cook, executive assistant to the university librarian. Cook and another employee moved the 200- to 250-pound sculpture to its temporary garden home back in September.

"But I'm sure a strong guy could probably move it," she said.

When they noticed that the piece was missing, officials contacted several university departments, such as surplus, facilities services and security. But no leads came back.

On Dec. 28, they reported the suspected theft to the Oregon State Police office on campus. This week, OSP Lt. Phil Zerzan said there are no clues in the case.

With nothing to go on, the library went public. An advertisement with a photo of the sculpture ran in the Barometer this week. Still, nobody has offered a clue.

Library administrators are baffled by the case - surprised that it went missing in the first place and surprised that no information has surfaced.

"We didn't think anybody would take it," Cook said. "We thought it was a quiet and visual spot ... it's not some corner tucked away that we wouldn't notice it's gone."

Now, administrators are wondering if they should have bolted the piece down, adding that such a movie would have "changed the nature of the sculpture," said University Librarian Karyle Butcher.

While Butcher and Cook said they would likely take new precautions in the future, they said the donor has agreed that outside was the right place for the sculpture.

"It just didn't dawn on me that somebody would take it ... we've had so little of that happen, certainly in the library," Butcher said.

Continued...

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