Art pole added to Strongs Creek Plaza
Installation depicts 1900s Fortuna grammar school
There is a new artistic attraction at the Strongs Creek Plaza in Fortuna. An art pole has recently been installed near the storefronts of several businesses, commissioned by the Strongs Creek Plaza Merchants Association.
Artist Penny Fregeau created the art pole, which depicts an early 1900s photo of an old grammar school in Fortuna and students posed on the front steps of the school. The photo which inspired the artistic creation was provided by Greg Rumney, a local collector of historic photos.
Bob Judevine, vice president and branch banager of the Fortuna branch of Redwood Capital Bank, located in the Strongs
Creek Plaza said, “I really liked the idea of public art for several reasons. It is a celebration of local art, and eventually, the plan is to have a map of all the art poles in the city.”
Judevine believes the art pole will stimulate an interest in public art and potentially draw visitors from out of town.
Judevine said Fregeau was one of three artists the Strongs Creek Plaza Merchant Association talked to when the project was being launched. Fregeau said the art pole fits perfectly with the personality of Fortuna.
As a young adult Fregeau co-owned and operated a stained glass studio in Southern California in the 1970s and early 1980s. She moved to Humboldt County in 1983. She describes her art as classical realism. Fregeau is also one of the founders of the annual popular Art and Wine in the Park event in Fortuna’s Rohner Park.
The artist pole project is a program of the Fortuna Chamber Art & Culture Committee, which was created to help support public art projects in Fortuna. Another art pole is in the works by Ferndale artist
Ashley Rose, to be installed at a future date in front of the Fortuna Chamber of Commerce office.