Six city workers took just under 20 minutes Monday morning to lower, disassemble, strap down and drive away a sculpture that mysteriously appeared on the front lawn of the Boulder History Museum a week ago.
The work of art — a metal-sheeted post topped off with a pair of skis, garden loppers, and a child’s bicycle — was deposited by an unknown person overnight Dec. 13, inspiring people to come by the museum at 1206 Euclid Ave. to take pictures and try to decipher its meaning.
“It’s been fun having it up — it’s been a draw for the museum,” the museum’s chief executive, Nancy Geyer, said as she watched a crew from the Boulder Parks & Recreation Department cinch down the sculpture with lime-green nylon straps. “But we lease the land from the city, and they have their regulations.”
On Thursday, Boulder issued a news release asking the phantom sculptor to remove the sculpture by today or lose it to the city. No one claimed the sculpture over the weekend.
The city said the 15-foot piece could pose safety and liability problems and that there is an established policy for donating art to Boulder. The sculpture will be taken to a storage facility while the city figures out whether it should become a part of its art collection.
A similar looking sculpture remains on the front lawn of Donna Coughlin’s house at 25th Street and Valmont Road. Coughlin was the first to be hit by the phantom sculptor, finding a the large piece of art lit up by solar-powered lights on her lawn in the early morning hours of Dec. 11.
She asked that the city not remove the sculpture, hoping that whoever put it there comes to retrieve it over the next week or so.
“I’m sure it’ll be here through Christmas, unless he comes by to get it first,” Coughlin said.
Geyer said she will inquire with the city whether the sculpture taken down might best be donated to the museum’s collection.
“We’d like to talk to the city about it, because we keep the history of Boulder,” she said. “And it’s another piece of Boulder’s history.”
