The reading boy returns

The “Homework Comes First” Statue by artist Martha Pettigrew is back on its highly visible perch near the downtown Renton Library.

The “Homework Comes First” Statue by artist Martha Pettigrew is back on its highly visible perch near the downtown Renton Library.

The statue has been gone for several weeks while it underwent repairs by Art Tech of Renton. The statue had been damaged in 2007 when it was side-swiped by a car that had jumped the curb.

Repairs were made, but broken mounts were discovered and Art Tech replaced those, according to Roger Waterhouse with Art Tech, which is an art-handling company.

Waterhouse and Mais Oui lifted and relifted the statue a little bit at a time to get it to sit level on the sidewalk near the library.

The statue isn’t too heavy, he said, “maybe 120 pounds.”

The statue, created in 2002, has been at the library since 2003. The statue is of a boy sitting, reading a book, with his baseball and mitt next to him.