The case of the vanishing sculpture: ‘Walking on Logs’ down to two

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Last weekend, a reader texted us to say that “Walking on Logs” – the sculpture installation by the pullout near the west end of the West Seattle Bridge – appeared to be missing another of its bronze “dancing children.” We subsequently verified at the site that only two of the original four remain.

So was the latest one to vanish stolen, or otherwise removed? So far, we haven’t found evidence of the latter.

Back in 2014, one of the original four sculptures was stolen, and to date, it’s never been found. Now, it appears the same fate may have befallen one of the remaining three – unless someone reading this has an explanation we haven’t been able to find despite a variety of inquiries with the people and agencies who’ve had past involvement. The one that’s missing is in the upper left of this photo taken after the 2014 theft:

The bronze sculptures were installed in 1996. The artist was Phillip Levine of Burien, who died last year at age 90. He told local historian/journalist Clay Eals in a 2014 interview that the sculptures were meant to exude “sheer joy.” They were part of the turn-of-the-millennium “Murals of West Seattle” project led by West Seattle community advocate Earl Cruzen, who died in 2017 at 96 and worked until late in his life to maintain the roadside area around the sculptures.

Community maintenance was part of the deal when the city originally granted permission for installation of the sculptures, as the city’s Office of Arts and Culture told us while we were reporting on the 2014 theft – “the whole project was funded from matching-fund grants from both King County and from Department of Neighborhoods. SDOT allowed the artwork in the right of way with the understanding that the community would maintain the artwork.”

So who is accountable for it now?

The community-volunteer effort dwindled for lack of new participation. The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce was once accountable pre-pandemic for granting permission to nonprofits to display messages at the site for special events, then handed that accountability off to Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association. We’ve checked with both those organizations and neither is aware of a reason one more sculpture is gone. Nor is the Kiwanis Club of West Seattle, which had some involvement with volunteer efforts in the past. Nor is the city – we asked SDOT, which in turn checked with Arts & Culture. We also asked Clay Eals, who hadn’t heard anything either.

In addition to the Walking on Logs sculpture stolen in 2014, other bronze artwork has been taken over the years – in 2015, for example, someone stole bronze fish from the Fauntleroy Creek overlook. And just last December, we published a Crime Watch reader report about bronze art stolen from outside a local home.

P.S. We visited the site twice in the past few days to verify and re-verify that the sculpture was missing. The first time, the pullout was empty; the second time – at midday Tuesday – this plateless, unoccupied pickup truck was there, backed part way into the muddy slope.

Related? No idea, but we did find that someone filed a police report yesterday about the truck. Police determined that it had been stolen from Pierce County and had it towed to an impound yard.

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