Missing bronze statue found safe with police

A popular bronze statue at Fifth Third Field was reported stolen Sunday night. Turns out the culprits were the Toledo police. Kind of.

The bronze sculpture, called "Who's Up?," situated behind the Mud Hens scoreboard and incorp- orated into the fence surrounding the stadium on St. Clair Street, features four life-size statues of children peeking through a knothole in a fence.

Mud Hens staff noticed Sunday evening that one of those children -- a cute little girl in pigtails and overalls -- had vanished.

They assumed the worst.

Mud Hens employee Ken Westenkirchner called the police and filed a theft report. The Arts Commission of Greater Toledo, which manages the city's public art, prepared for a media blitz to publicize the heist and bring the perpetrators to justice. Dan Hernandez, art in public places coordinator for the arts commission, feared thieves might be planning to sell it for scrap.

"When they told me, I was a little bit crushed," he said. "This is probably one of the most popular bronze art pieces in the city's collection."

What Mud Hens officials and the arts commission did not know, however, was that the little girl in pigtails was safely stowed in a police property room. In the early morning hours of Saturday, two Toledo police officers discovered the large bronze statue about 20 yards from its original location and booked the custom bronze statue into a property room for safekeeping.

However no one told the Mud Hens or the art commission until later. Jason Griffin, director of public relations for the Mud Hens, said he believed the ball club found out police had the custom bronze sculpture at about lunchtime Monday. The art commission was notified by the Mud Hens shortly after that, Mr. Hernandez said.
He was relieved.

"To have it re-sculpted would have been a nightmare," he said. "We're excited to have it back."

The large bronze sculpture, informally known as "The Knothole Gang," was created by local bronze statues artist Emanuel Enriquez and was installed in 2002. It cost $89,000, Mr. Hernandez said. About $50,000 of that was donated by George Chapman, who is chairman, chief executive officer, and president of Health Care REIT. The rest was from the city of Toledo's One Percent for Art program.

What remains unresolved is how the heavy bronze statue got moved 20 yards down the sidewalk. Toledo Police Detective Tonya Rider said the bolts that anchored the life size bronze statue to the sidewalk had been damaged. "I don't know if it was a prank, if it got too heavy to carry," she said. "I don't know what the circumstances were. Maybe it was a case of buyer's remorse."

Mr. Hernandez called the whole incident hilarious and bizarre. "They probably thought they could carry it away, but that's a big piece of bronze," he said. "It's pretty heavy. That's got to be what happened."

Amway Corp. Co-Founder Jay Van Andel Honored in Bronze

Amway Corp. co-founder Jay Van Andel cast a large figure across West Michigan's landscape.

He founded an inter-national medical research institute, provided major funding for the city's public museum and with his partner, Rich DeVos, helped revive downtown with their redevelopment of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.

A 7-foot bronze statue honoring his legacy was unveiled today on the plaza in front of Van Andel Arena, the 16-year-old sports and entertainment complex that also bears his name.

“The number of people who will see it there was a big part of it,” said Peter Secchia, whose family is funding and has endowed the series of bronze statues honoring the city's historical figures. Also, persons attending events at the arena are likely to be in an upbeat mood, he said.

“Jay Van Andel is of particular interest because he and Betty, his wife, provide the lead gift to the building of the arena, which is such an important attraction and gathering place for residents and city visitors,” said Steve Heacock, chairman of the Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority.

Van Andel, who died in 2004 at age 80, also served as the chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1979-1980 and chaired the 1982 U.S.-Netherlands Bicentennial Commission. He also served as the founding chair of the Right Place economic development program.

The large bronze statue was sculpted by J. Brett Grill, the West Michigan artist who recently completed a bronze sculpture of former President Gerald R. Ford that is featured in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. A duplicate of the custom bronze sculpture was installed at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum last week.

Joe Becherer, chairman of the Community Legends project, said the Grill was a good choice for the Van Andel tribute.

“He has a gift for dealing with contemporary or near-contemporary figures,” said Becherer, curator of sculpture at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. “I think people are going to be extremely pleased with what they see on Wednesday. It's a really, really fine work.”

The bronze monument is the third in a series of downtown sculptures that will eventually honor 25 historic figures.

In 2008, the project unveiled a statue of Lucius Lyon, one of the city's earliest settlers. The 5-foot 6-inch statue at the corner of Monroe Avenue and Lyon Street is the only life-sized statue rendering. The remaining large statues will be 7-foot-tall and mounted on 3-foot bases.

In 2010, the project unveiled a custom bronze statue of Noahquageshik, or Chief Noonday, the Native American tribal chief who was instrumental in the settlement of Michigan. The 7-foot statue was placed on the campus of Grand Valley State University.
Future subjects will include the Most Rev. Frederick Baraga, an early Catholic missionary to Grand Rapids; Stanley Ketchel, a Polish-born boxer who grew up in Grand Rapids and began world middle-weight champion, Helen Claytor, a civil rights leader and first African-American to become national president of the YWCA and Lyman S. Parks, the first African-American mayor of Grand Rapids.