'He will be back': What happened to the 'Wishbone' sculpture at the Speed Art Museum?

The Speed Art Museum's giant "Wishbone" sculpture was removed Sunday to make room for a new outdoor exhibit, but its admirers do not have to make a wish for it to return.

"He will be back," the museum wrote on Facebook.

The museum said the sculpture will be at an offsite storage facility while the planned Speed Outdoors exhibit, set to open in 2025, is constructed.

Due to the polar vortex that lasted in Louisville for several days, the sculpture reportedly froze to its concrete supports buried 2 feet underground during the removal process Sunday.

"Once we got them thawed out, the sculpture was strapped to a crane and lifted across the front lawn, and then onto an oversized flatbed truck," the museum wrote.

Prior to its temporary removal, the "Wishbone" had been a fixture at The Speed since 2015. It was sculpted by Mark Handforth, a Miami-based artist whose other works have been featured in Chicago, Los Angeles, Germany and Italy. The sculpture is 7 1/2 feet tall and 24 feet long.

Speed Outdoors will be a 3-acre "art park" featuring 13 contemporary sculptures, according to the exhibit's website. The park will also feature 2 acres of shaded green space and 150 native trees. It will be open year-round.

"The Speed Outdoors represents our vision for a museum shaped by dedication to inclusivity, belonging and boundless forms of creativity," museum director Raphaela Platow said in a statement posted on the website for the new exhibit.

The Speed Art Museum is located at 2035 S. Third St. It is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

Reach reporter Leo Bertucci at lbertucci@gannett.com or @leober2chee on X, formerly known as Twitter

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Wishbone sculpture removed from Speed Museum will return