FCPG approval formality for Art in Public Places sculptures

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The Art in Public Places program of Fallbrook Arts, Inc., plans to erect additional sculptures and asked the Fallbrook Community Planning Group for a formal recommendation. Two planning group votes Sept. 20 provided the confirmation for the sculptures.

Both planning group votes were 13-0 with two members absent. A sculpture called “Neighborhood Bull” will be erected in front of the Fallbrook School of Arts on East Alvarado Street. A schematic called “The Birds of Fallbrook” will have seven birds at various locations.

Neighborhood Bull was sculpted by Jim Helms. “He’s an excellent sculptor and we love his work, so we’re thrilled to be putting it in front of the school,” said Jerri Patchett, who co-chairs the Art in Public Places Committee of Fallbrook Arts, Inc.

(Marlene Rantanen is the other co-chair of the Art in Public Places Committee.)

Jim and Marjorie Claborn purchased the sculpture Helms created. “They gifted it to us,” Patchett said.

The donation will allow for Neighborhood Bull to be in front of the Fallbrook School of Arts in the near future. “It’s been completed and it will be installed soon,” Patchett said.

Don Rambadt, who lives in Wisconsin but has worked with the Fallbrook art community, will create The Birds of Fallbrook. “He’s collected by many Fallbrook residents,” Patchett said.

The seven birds will be in five different locations. Two will be in front of the Fallbrook Art Center on South Main Avenue; two will be in front of the Palomares House on Stage Coach Lane; one will be in front of the Fallbrook School for the Arts, one will be at Village Square, and one will be in front of the library.

Financing will determine the timing of The Birds of Fallbrook. “We haven’t raised the funds,” Patchett said.

(Community members who desire to help provide financial support for The Birds of Fallbrook can do so on-line at https://www.fallbrookartsinc.org or can mail or provide contributions in person at the Fallbrook Arts, Inc., 103 S. Main Ave.)

Fallbrook Arts, Inc., utilizes art and arts education to bring visitors to Fallbrook and to expand the arts experience for Fallbrook residents. Fallbrook Center for the Arts operates the Fallbrook Art Center and the Fallbrook School of Arts, and the organization also manages the Fallbrook Art in Public Places program.

The seven pieces of The Birds of Fallbrook are being counted as a single sculpture. Currently the Art in Public Places program has 33 pieces, and Neighborhood Bull and The Birds of Fallbrook would bring that number to 35.