CHAPEL HILL - How does somebody take a six-foot tall, bright orange sculpture mounted on a five-inch-diameter metal pole from a prominent spot on the town's main drag without being seen?

That's what Chapel Hill officials want to know.

"Landing," an epoxy resin piece depicting a floating or jumping girl in brilliantly colored dress and striped stockings, vanished from its spot in front of the Chapel Hill Museum on East Franklin Street sometime within the past few weeks. The Chapel Hill Public Arts Office is offering a $250 reward, no questions asked, for the return of the sculpture, which is on loan to the town by the artist, Florida sculptor Cecilia Lueza.

"We want our little girl back," Jeffrey York, Chapel Hill's public arts administrator, said Monday afternoon. "Nobody has come forward yet. I can't imagine that anyone could drag something that big and bright down the street without somebody seeing something. I've done a lot of interviews about this today, so I'm hopeful that when word spreads, somebody will come forward with some information."

The sculpture, which carries an insurance value of $16,000, was reported missing to the Chapel Hill Police Department on Wednesday. York and public arts coordinator Steve Wright noticed the sculpture was absent from its usual spot last week as they drove past the museum on their way back from a meeting, but subsequent interviews with neighbors indicated that it might have been taken well before that, York said.

"Apparently a couple of people said they noticed it was gone somewhere around the ninth of July," he said. "The museum closed to the public on the 11th, so you wouldn't have had people going in and out the front entrance."

The sculpture wasn't the kind of piece that could just be grabbed and run off with; it was mounted on a metal pole set firmly in place.

The base of the pole remains where it was, York said; the section with the sculpture attached to it was cut or broken off.

The sculpture is part of the town's 2009-10 Sculpture Visions outdoor exhibit, which places art in public places around Chapel Hill. It was a popular piece, York said.

"We got a lot of compliments on it," he said. "It's a happy, brightly colored piece, and kids especially liked it. People visiting the museum sometimes would have their pictures taken with it."

The piece was scheduled to be removed this fall and shipped to Charleston, S.C., where it had been accepted into another exhibition. York said he had notified the artist of the sculpture's disappearance, the first of any sculpture in the Sculpture Visions' six-year history.

"She's heartbroken, of course," York said. "She's very disappointed. I'm very disappointed too.

"Who knows why people do things like that? I can't speculate about that. The police have been notified, and we're offering a $250 reward for information leading to the return of the sculpture, or to whoever has it, if they have a change of heart and bring it back, with no questions asked."

Anyone with information regarding the piece should contact the Public Arts Office at 919-968.2750 or info@chapelhillarts.org.