[MSN] New Zealand. A Golden Bay man is calling for thieves to return a distinctive serpentine sculpture stolen from its site of 27 years in the Cobb Valley.

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Theft spurs plea for sculpture's return 

A Golden Bay man is calling for thieves to return a distinctive serpentine
sculpture stolen from its site of 27 years in the Cobb Valley. 

Chris Petyt, of Tukurua, said he took a photo of Campbell Ewing's sculpture
in October and when he returned in January to show it to friends it had
gone. 

It had stood in a grassy clearing near Mytton's Hut in the Cobb Valley in
the Kahurangi National Park since its completion in late 1979, he said. 

Mr Petyt said Mr Ewing was an "alternative lifestyler" who had lived in
Golden Bay in the late 1970s. 

He had made the sculpture from stone from the Cobb Valley and the Forest
Service paid Mr Ewing's wages for six weeks while he made the piece. 

The wave-shaped work reflected the shape of the valley where it was
situated. "He compared looking through the wave as being like looking
through a view-finder of a rifle or camera." 

Mr Petyt said he had e-mailed Mr Ewing, who now lived in Wellington, about
the disappearance of the artwork. 

Mr Ewing said he was angry at the theft, having already lost another piece
that was sited in the burnt-out remains of a house he'd lived at in Golden
Bay. 

Mr Petyt said someone must know about the sculpture and might have seen it
in someone's backyard. 

Photo:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/nelsonmail/3961922a6510.html