It's not uncommon for a deer to lose its head during rutting season, but Minneapolis park officials hope that one of their deer will get its head back. The head of a stag sculpted from motorcycle and bike parts vanished last week from the Lake Nokomis art walk. A fish and a lily pad from a heron sculpture are gone too. Diane Moe, who oversees the new sculpture area for the Park Board, said she doubted that the items of recycled metal were swiped for their scrap value: "I think it's in some college kid's dorm room."
The rotating group of sculptures was the brainchild of recently departed park superintendent Jon Gurban. The deer was dedicated in June for a year-long stay. "I'm just outraged that some nitwits would destroy something as beautiful as this," said park user Wes Skoglund.
But deer sculptor Albert Belleveau, who lives in the north-central Minnesota town of Puposky, was philosophical. "Somebody liked it so much that they decided to take it home as a souvenir," he said. Belleveau recalled a sculpture that disappeared from a Bemidji art walk, only to be discovered 20 miles away and 2 1/2 years later by a partridge hunter. He sounded confident that the deer head will return: "Sometimes it's just a prank, and when people get tried of the prank, they fling the item some place and somebody finds it."
STEVE BRANDT
