'They are like my children,' artist says of stolen Toronto statue of boy and girl

Sculptor Lea Vivot says the disappearance of one of her pieces from a Toronto home last week came as awful news. 

The sculpture, called The Secret Bench of Knowledge, is owned by Murray Goldman, a real estate developer in Toronto. It had been outside his home since the 1980s until last Thursday night, when it was stolen.

"I was shocked. I couldn't believe it," Vivot, a renowned artist and sculptor, told As It Happens guest host Helen Mann.

"They are like my children. It takes approximately nine months to make."

According to a police statement, the suspects loaded the piece of art into a white utility van and drove away. 

It would have been no easy feat. The sculpture weighs 226 kilograms. It's made of bronze and features a girl and boy with an apple in his hand, sitting on a bench. 

The investigation is ongoing, Toronto Police Services said in an emailed statement.

Art featured family messages, children's handprints

Vivot, whose work can be seen around the world and often features people sitting on benches, said the sculpture was special because the family had personalized it with numerous messages.

"It was like a family tree," she said, explaining it included notes from Goldman's children, grandchildren, and his late wife. 

"I printed the children's feet and hands, they did drawings," she said, adding that those personalizations make the piece "practically priceless."

"It was pretty peaceful … it was very meaningful to us," Goldman told Global News on Friday. "Thousands of people – literally thousands of people – have stopped and enjoyed it."

"The fact it was stolen, I consider it a crime to the community."  

May have been stolen for bronze value 

The sculpture is valued at approximately $500,000 today. 

Vivot says she believes there are two possibilities for why someone stole the sculpture: to resell the piece, or to melt it down for its valuable bronze. 

The second option is why Goldman has promised a monetary reward greater than the value of the bronze, hoping the thieves see the economic benefit of returning it. 

Goldman told CBC he's offering a $10,000 reward.

Though Goldman's piece was the only one in Toronto, there are six other versions of The Secret Bench of Knowledge on display in Canada and around the world. However, no two are the same. 

"Each of them is personal," Vivot said, explaining that every bench has unique markings. 

One of the sculptures is in Ottawa near Parliament Hill, and features messages from people all over Canada.  There's also a sculpture near the McGill University campus in Montreal, and in front of a library in Sarnia, Ont.

The others are on 5th Avenue in New York, in Prague, Czech Republic, and in Hanoi, Vietnam. 

Vivot said she used the apple in the piece to reverse gender expectations. 

"They always said it's the women that lost everyone paradise because of that apple," she said, referencing the Biblical story of Adam and Eve. "So this time I put the apple in the hand of the boy." 

But creating the bitten apple turned out to be challenging. 

After hours of trying to shape the bite, Vivot eventually made it work by taking a bite out of the clay herself.

"So after all, it is still the woman who took that first bite," she said, laughing. "My teeth are in it." 

Other stolen artwork 

This isn't the first time Vivot's work has been stolen. 

She said a figure on one of her sculptures in Montreal was once removed, but the thieves were caught. 

The police then called Vivot to identify the figure.

Another time, a figure was stolen from her sculpture Endless Bench, which sits in front of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. 

After pleas to return it, the figure appeared in a ditch near Vivot's studio in Klineberg, Ont. 

She said she hopes for a similar return in this situation, since lots of people will be looking out for the piece.

"Please give them back," she said. "Leave them wherever they'll be found."

Art needs to be shared, Vivot said, which is why the Goldman family kept it next to the sidewalk.

"They could have kept it in their own garden," she said, "but instead they shared it with the public — and people loved it and enjoyed it." 

Written and produced by Menaka Raman-Wilms.