Another Penticton sculpture feels the wrath of vandalism

In the spring of 2020, just days before its lease period was up, thieves somehow detached and stole sculptor Lars Baggenstos' magnificent depiction of a ram's head, called "Restoration and Resilience," from its place on the Okanagan Lake waterfront. It's never reappeared.

A few months later, criminals made off with one of the bronze salmons from Trinita Waller's stunning "Salmon Cycle." She recovered it three months later, but the damage was done. The sculpture was removed from display in fear it would be further attacked.

In 2017, it was Paul Reimer's Tamarack Pond (vandalized). In 2018, it was Michael Hermesh's "Hat Box Man" (stolen but returned). And just this March, it was Denis Kleine's "Dawn" (removed from its place at the Penticton Hospital after continued defacement). We could go on.

And now, one more piece of public art has felt the wrath of Penticton vandalism/theft.

Just weeks after Baggenstos' Restoration and Resilience was stolen, in May of 2020, Sidney, BC's Fred Dobbs brought his all-bronze "The Raven's Key" to the Penticton waterfront for its 12-month stint as part of the revolving Penticton Public Sculpture Exhibition.

It resided safely on its pedestal, not far from the SS Sicamous and in a prime spot for gawkers and photographers, for 350-plus of those 365 days.

But earlier this week, The Raven's Key lost its key.

"At this point it appears something happened Monday night," said PPSE program coordinator Kaare Yeske. "Someone who was walking by phoned into the city that the key was missing, and the city got to me by Tuesday night. And I uninstalled it on schedule Friday."

Yeske is positive the vandal used bolt cutters to slice through the ring that held the key.

"Absolutely bolt cutters," he said. "When you're around that world of metal you can tell what tool was used, how it was done. Everything leaves its little clues."

Sculptor Dobbs, who told PentictonNow that The Raven's Key took approximately two months to complete, is now appealing for the key's return.

"My hope would be that if the person who has the key feels like they could return it, they might do that," he said. "There'd be no questions asked. I'm really hoping there's a way to get the key back."

Interestingly, this isn't the first time the key's been stolen.

"There were two other times," said Dobbs. "when it was displayed in Nelson and Castlegar. But in both cases, it was given back."

If it isn't returned this time, he said, there'll be "some challenges."

"I'll have to go back to making a wax impression from a mold. I'll then create a second mold, a ceramic waste mold. It'll have to then go to a foundry to be poured.

"It'll be tooled, and ultimately placed in the ring again. The ring would then have to be reworked with bronze, and it'll have to be tooled to finish it. It could take several weeks and it'd be at a substantial cost too."

Kaare Yeske believes it may not have been a random act.

"It's possible that the perpetrator, who I think at this point knew the uninstall date was coming, thought 'Well, I'll go and get my little token before it’s uninstalled,'" he said. "The scenario is so similar to Lars' (Restoration and Resilience) piece.

"Why wouldn't they have done it a month ago? Two months? What caused them to wait to the end of April when they know it's going to be uninstalled? Just the timing of it all is so suspect."

Anyone knowing anything about the theft of the key or its current whereabouts can contact the artist, Fred Dobbs, at kumo@shaw.ca.

As for Lars Baggenstos, he continues to look for leads on the theft of Restoration and Resilience and can be reached at info@larsbaggenstos.com.