Missing bronze leg sculpture outside Spokane Arena has been recovered

A bronze leg sculpture that went missing last week outside the Spokane Arena was recovered Wednesday in the area of Riverfront Park.

The art piece, called Leap, is part of six bronze figures installed on a stairwell on the east side of the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in 1995 when the venue was constructed.

Michelle McIntyre, assistant to Spokane Public Facilities District CEO Stephanie Curran, said in a voicemail Wednesday morning the district got a call from a Riverfront Park manager saying his crew found the leg, which went missing Jan. 10.

The district owns and operates the Arena.

Karen Mobley, a contract public art consultant for the nonprofit Spokane Arts, said the district told her the park crew found it on the north bank of the Spokane River and returned it to the district.

Mobley said Tuesday she was optimistic the leg would be returned.

She called the art recovery Wednesday an “exciting success.”

The figure on each stairwell landing represents the sequence of movements in an “athletic” leap, according to a 1995 Spokesman-Review story, with two lower legs and springs sprouting out of them. The legs are cemented to the top of the stairwell, but one of them disappeared last week.

Mobley did not know the condition of the leg Wednesday or when it would be placed in its rightful place atop the stairwell. She said she will reach out to people she knows who do art repairs to see if they are interested in reinstalling the piece.

McIntyre could not be reached by phone Wednesday afternoon. The district directed media inquiries Tuesday to Mobley because of her knowledge of the art piece.

The bronze sculptures were created by artist Phillip Levine, who died in 2021 in Seattle at the age of 90.

Mobley called Levine “one of the greats” in Washington.

The Washington State Arts Commission said Levine has more than 30 sculptures in public places in Western Washington, half a dozen in Eastern Washington and others across the U.S.

Mobley said Tuesday the district asked metal recycling and salvage businesses to look out for the leg in case it came to their facilities. The missing piece was also reported to police.

“What a cool thing that it was found and returned,” Mobley said.