A 'second chance': Edmonton artist overjoyed after art angel finds stolen Archangel painting
Stolen 9 months ago, the 4-by-6-foot painting was found by a dumpster near NAIT
Edmonton artist Michael Victoria Moore never expected to see her painting of Archangel Michael again.
The painting, titled Reverence, was stolen in November from ArtsHub 118, an affordable housing co-op for artists above the Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts near 92nd Street and 118th Avenue.
Eight paintings by other artists were also stolen that day.
On Friday, Moore received a call from someone who found her painting last week at a dumpster near NAIT, the six-by-four-foot canvas catching the eye of the woman who spotted it.
"I instantly started crying and shaking. I was in shock," she said Tuesday.
The woman fell in love with it and brought it home. She didn't know it had been stolen until a friend came over days later and recognized it from a CBC News story, Moore said.
The woman got in contact with Moore, who was stunned to hear the painting had been found.
"When we walked into the house, here was the painting and it was on the frame. It was immaculate. There was no damage," Moore said.
"I started crying and shaking uncontrollably."
A 'second chance'
Moore doesn't know the monetary value of the painting but said it took her years to create.
She was inspired to paint Archangel Michael after having a dream more than a decade ago.
She had contacted a friend who was a photographer to do pictures of a male model that she could use as a reference.
"I had never painted a figure of a man before," Moore said.
But the friend became sick and died suddenly from an aneurysm. The negatives from the photoshoot were lost for two years.
She started creating Reverence in 2009 after the negatives were finally found.
It still wasn't finished last year when the painting was stolen.
"Finally I got space where I could bring him back into my life again and I was looking forward to working with the painting and finishing. That's when he was taken," Moore said.
"I'm so happy to have this second chance."
The eight other paintings stolen from ArtsHub118 haven't been returned, Moore said.
Moore plans to offer art classes as a thank you to the woman who found her painting.
As for the painting itself, the Archangel is now prominently displayed on a wall in her home.
"It's just joy… I get up in the morning and I look at him, and I look at him before I go to bed," Moore said.
"It's happened. It's unbelievable. But it's real."