Artist Christopher Griffin had his 125-pound concrete raven sculpture returned to his doorstep on Nov. 20 after its chains had been cut and the object stolen a week earlier. Kristine Lee, Centretown NewsIt was a huge sculpture of a raven, weighing more than 55 kilograms. It was stolen from where it was locked and chained outside of the artist’s Centretown studio in mid-November. And then, just as mysteriously, nine days later it re-appeared. It was as though the raven had gone for a week of flight.
Walking down Kent Street towards his studio, as he had done the day he found it missing, the artist, Christopher Griffin, noticed something in the snow. From four blocks away, he could see the legs of the missing raven sculpture sticking out.
“I was surprised and not surprised,” he said. “It was almost like it was meant to come home.”
Griffin’s sculptures are well-known around Ottawa.
The raccoon sculptures at the Glebe Community Centre, falcons on the Bronson Avenue bridge over Riverside Drive, a blue heron and other wildlife at the Glebe parking garage, and turtles at the Beaverbrook library in Kanata are some of his most visible artistic creations.
His studio is easy to distinguish from the other houses along Kent Street and Gladstone Avenue. The walls have three fish etchings on the Gladstone side and an owl on the Kent side, decorating the corner.
The raven sculpture also decorated the studio’s exterior, resting alone on the Kent Street sidewalk before it was stolen on Nov. 13. It took Griffin about a year to complete the raven, which was just finished in late July. It had been outside since then.
On the Gladstone side, three white elephants stood in a line.
Although incidents such as stealing of public art or mischief on them are rare, they do occur, said the Ottawa Police.
It was the first time someone had taken a sculpture Griffin had placed outside.
“I’ve put sculptures out and I still have some in the Glebe where I live on the lawn and I’ve never had one walk away before,” Griffin said in an interview prior to the raven’s return.
Because of its size, Griffin thinks the culprit would have needed friends or a vehicle to spirit it away. The raven was also chained and padlocked onto the ground. However, none of the neighbours heard or saw anything, and before its return there were no clues as to who had taken it.
That is until it reappeared with a slightly new look.
To Griffin’s relief, the sculpture came back safely and unharmed. But someone had added one eye to the raven, apparently using a Sharpie. Griffin suspects the return was due to the media attention.
“I think someone said, ‘Hey, you better get rid of this sculpture quick,’” he said.
“(It’s) interesting to wonder who took it, why and what did they do with it and where it was for the week and a half,” Griffin said.
The three white elephants placed in front of his studio were moved after the disappearance of the raven.
“I was kind of anxious to get them out of here,” he said. “I would have been really upset to lose (them) because they’ve already been sold.”
The reason the sculptures were placed outside was for the community to interact with them, Griffin said.
“For sculptures, you want people to touch them, to sit on them, to walk around them.”
However, that was not the only purpose. The sculptures were also placed to dress up the busy corner, Griffin said.
“I like to think putting sculptures out there softens it and makes the experience around there nicer for people.”
Although this is a first for Griffin, it is not for the city. Back in 1998, Stump Girl, a large bronze sculpture by Laura Ford, was taken from Elgin Street and later found banged up in Vanier.
The glass castings of residents’ faces installed on pillars at City Hall have had to be repeatedly recast due to the popular targeting of one of the images.
“It is sad to see the actions of a spoiler depriving a community of the elements that make neighborhoods unique and expressive,” Peter Honeywell, the executive director of the Ottawa Arts Council, said in an email.
“In the end, it’s the public that loses out.”