Guelph police renew appeal to find missing 8-foot feather sculpture

Police have put out a new call for information as they continue to investigate what they’re calling “a very unusual theft” from University of Guelph campus.

Police have put out a new call for information as they continue to investigate what they’re calling “a very unusual theft” from University of Guelph campus.

On Friday, the university announced “Feather,” a 2.4-metre (8-foot) bronze statue, had disappeared from the Art Gallery of Guelph’s Donald Forster Sculpture Park off Gordon Street.

Police said the theft was reported Wednesday morning after a gallery employee noticed the artwork was missing.

“Due to the size and weight of the sculpture, it is believed at least two people with a large vehicle were involved in the theft,” police said in a news release Monday.

Created in 1997 by Canadian sculptor John Greer, the Art Gallery of Guelph said “Feather” has been an “important landmark” in the sculpture garden and wider city for almost three decades.

“To have a work by a renowned Canadian artist forcibly removed and taken is extremely disheartening for the gallery as well as our partners – the university, city, and Upper Grand District School Board,” art gallery executive director Shauna McCabe said Friday.

“An artwork like this becomes not only part of the national cultural landscape but part of the everyday lives of community members.”