Taking the Petaluma public art challenge

The centerpiece of the current Petaluma Arts Center exhibition, “Place-Making Through Public Art,” is a map – a very large, detailed map – showing the titles and locations of 52 individual pieces of public art on display somewhere within the boundaries of Petaluma. Some are murals, some are statues, and some are harder to describe.

Standing in front of that enormous map on the wall, one might be compelled to ask, “How long would it take to view each and every one of those installations?”

On Wednesday morning, July 30, I met up with Anne Digges and Tanner Boeger, both members of Petaluma’s all-volunteer Public Art Committee, and artist-muralist Jonny Hirschmugl, to try to answer that question. Beginning at 9 a.m. – with low clouds keeping the midsummer temperature down for the time being – we set out, map in hand, to see every last piece of art on the list.

We have estimated that our tour would take us the better part of the day – and it will.

“I really like the scaly legs on the tubs,” declares Digges, taking on the role of our clipboard-in-hand tour guide for the day, as we arrive at our first piece of installation – “Fine Balance,” by Brian Goggin, No. 14 on the map. “I like that they look so alive.”

Commonly known as “The Bathtubs,” Goggins’ two-piece installation at the H Street pocket park near the Foundry Wharf is among the newest examples of Petaluma Public Art. It’s easily one of our town’s better-known pieces, due to the attention both positive and negative given over the years to the fabricated fiberglass tubs secured onto metal poles, each one painted to resemble wooden stilts.

“Everyone thinks they must be filled with water, but they have a resin insert that keeps rainwater out,” Digges said of “Fine Balance,” which has proven to be a draw for tourists and locals alike.

From where “Fine Balance” stands, you can get a good view of Petaluma sculptor Mark DiSuvero’s famous “Huru” (No. 50), standing right across the river at Petaluma River Park. The impressive sculpture, a towering metal contraption that moves in the wind, is on long-term loan to the park, and not technically part of the city’s public art program.

“We put it on the list though, because it’s an important piece of art,” said Digges, noting DiSuvero’s international reputation. “He was one of the first artists to use cranes in constructing his sculptures. It’s pretty amazing, and it’s a perfect example of public art.”

“I like that in this one spot where we are standing,” noted Boeger, “you can see two pieces of sculpture at once, one on either side of the river.”

“I also like that barge across the river,” added Hirschmugl, gesturing to the red rusting hulk across the way. “That’s kind of a piece of art in and of itself, and it has the same patina as Huru.”

“We should get a picture of the cow,” said Digges, pointing out the silhouetted metal bovine that greets passersby on the adjacent Foundry Wharf lawn. “That’s not on our list, but it should be. We’ll be adding it when we update the list in a week or so.”

Variations on that phrase – “Adding it to the list” – would become a common theme throughout the day which, at 9:16 a.m., is only just beginning.

‘I always see something new’

Our next stop is McNear Park, where we spend a few minutes studying the colorful piece simply titled “Be the Change” (No. 16), on the side of the the Mentor Me Cavanaugh Recreation Center at 426 8th St. Painted in 2016 by a group of students known as the SVHS Art Angels, the mural is a luxurious eruption of flowers mixed with sports and gardening imagery like baseballs and trowels, plus positive messages like “Be Kind” and “Be the change you want to see in the world.”

“It’s got the year it was painted on it,” points out Hirschmugl. “That’s such a good idea. I never do that on any of the murals I’ve done. I should really start doing that.”

Later on our tour, we would be visiting some of Hirschmugl’s murals, found in a number of locations around town. Two of those, on the front of the Petaluma Coffee & Tea Co. and on the back side of the Keller Street CoWork building on Telephone Alley, are not yet on the city’s official public art map.

“We’ll be adding it to the list,” says Digges.

Not far from the Mentor Me mural, over at McNear Park’s playground, we check out sculptor Nicolas Von Krijdt’s 2003 “Millennium Arch” (No. 15), a steel archway painted black, presented to the city by local Rotary Clubs.

“It’s kind of a schoolhouse and kind of a castle,” suggests Boeger, taking a few moments to enjoy the simple, elegant shape of the structure before we return to the car. A few minutes later, we’ve done a quick drive-by of Walnut Park – where sculptor Rosa Estebañez’ 1969 Vietnam Veteran’s memorial plaque (No. 30) is displayed at the bandstand – and parked at Theatre Square, where we spend some time with Donna Billick’s “Faces of Petaluma” fountain (No. 29).