A Centreville sculptor has re-created the controversial Christopher Columbus statue that once sat in Baltimore’s Little Italy neighborhood, restoring what he sees as an artistic accomplishment and a cornerstone of local Italian American pride. Acknowledging his bias as an artist, sculptor Will Hemsley said, “I view things aesthetically [and] as a result, I measure things through their artistic integrity. That’s where my sympathies lie.”

Hemsley said he believes his project will be finished by the end of February, when it will be shipped back to Baltimore and possibly serve as a museum exhibit — in a Feb. 17 interview, the sculptor said a final location had not yet been determined. The Columbus Piazza monument, unveiled in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan and then-mayor William Donald Schaefer, stood near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor for nearly four decades.