PORT ANGELES — An outdoor art sculpture stolen from downtown Port Angeles was mysteriously returned — placed in a gravel patch just a few feet away from its Front Street pedestal.
The aluminum sculpture, titled “Unipus,” resembles a one-armed octopus and is part of the Port Angeles Downtown Association’s “Art on the Town” display on several streets.
It was reported snatched from the pedestal to which it was welded in front of Chase Bank at Front and Laurel streets on Saturday.
“We’ve never been so happy to see a piece of artwork in our lives,” said Barb Frederick, executive director of the downtown association.
Police are still investigating who took “Unipus,” Officer Erik Smith said Monday.
The sculpture was placed in the gravel patch next to the bank’s ATM, and someone called the police about 10:15 a.m. Monday to say the piece was there, Smith said.
“We are now working on getting a search warrant so we can check the footage of the [security] camera near the ATM to see who was dropping it off,” Smith said.
Smith said that even with the artwork returned, it’s still theft as well as malicious mischief since whoever took “Unipus” had to break the welding bonds to remove it.
If the person who placed it in the gravel patch can be identified, police will try to interview him or her as part of the investigation.
“However, we have found that usually the person returning it isn’t the person who took it, [and] they usually identify themselves,” Smith said.
“I think it is fantastic that it is back,” Harbick said.
“There is no way to know for sure, but I think probably the fact that word got out and it was in the paper so quickly might have scared them into bringing it back.”
The report of the disappearance of “Unipus” appeared in Sunday’s Peninsula Daily News and online at www.peninsuladailynews.com.
Harbick said it will be reinstalled on the pedestal, and the artist will be contacted to assist.
The artist, Gabrielle Glasen, said she, too, was relieved that the sculpture was returned.
“I was ready to put a reward out,” Glasen said.
The $8,000 piece, which is on loan to the city, was insured, but Glasen said to her that wasn’t the point.
“It is really a special piece to me,” she said.
The sculpture is a symbol of wisdom and delegation, Glasen said.
“As a mother and business owner, I always wanted eight arms,” she said.
“After a while, I realized I just have to use my mind and delegate — so I made it with an arm coming from its head because it has obtained the wisdom of age.”
Anyone with information about the crime is asked to contact the Port Angeles Police Department at 360-452-4545.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
