The Federal Arts Project
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WPA The WPA project was one of the more important things . . . done for art in this whole country
at any time. I think so many artists, of every kind of art, were given a chance. I could not have
accomplished what I’ve done without that help.
Evelyn Raymond, sculptor and Duluth native
WPA FEDERAL ARTS PROJECT (FAP) began funding
the Duluth Art Center in 1935. An article about the work
produced by the center’s young attendees echoed Raymond’s
enthusiasm, and noted art’s social pull at 405 East Superior Street,
a “melting pot” where “children meet from all parts of town.”
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Raymond was chosen to design the bas-relief sculpture for the
high school stadium at International Falls. She helped introduce
the public to the work of the WPA by
beginning the sculpture at the Walker Art
Center in Minneapolis. Her sewing skills
came in handy there, too: “Women didn’t
wear slacks, as a general rule, then [and]
sometimes there’d be maybe 100 or so
people watching [me]. It would be a good
idea to have slacks on, I figured. I had
to make my own slacks
because I couldn’t
buy them.”
Publication covering the Duluth Art
Center, September 1942, courtesy Wilson
Library, University of Minnesota
Newsletter advertisement,
WPA art classes,
November 1938
Evelyn Raymond working on the frieze of figures for the school stadium, about 1940
Evelyn Raymond surrounded by many of her works, about 1940
The weight of the clay in her first two panels caused the Walker building
to sag. Raymond had to complete the last panel in the building’s basement
before traveling to International Falls for the installation. There she worked
21 days in sub-zero temperatures. Another wound for art’s sake came with
this icy slight: boarding with a local resident did not work out as expected.
Raymond had to stay at a hotel because “nobody would take me in,” she
said. “They were afraid they were taking in a WPA worker.”
Stadium at International
Falls featuring
Evelyn Raymond’s frieze
of figures, 1941
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(Inset) Stadium at
International Falls, courtesy
Doug Ohman, 2011
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Hibbing Memorial Building
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PWA [The Hibbing Memorial Building is] one of the finest of its kind ever seen, and as an engineer
[I have] seen many. Yes sir, the people of Hibbing are getting a real building, dollar for dollar.
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John K. Knutsen, PWA engineer and inspector, Hibbing Memorial Building project
reading 33 degrees
below zero, the original Hibbing Memorial
Building burned to the ground on
December 28, 1933. After receiving PWA grants
totaling about $9 million (in today’s dollars), a
new building, “more massive and complete” than
its predecessor, rose on the same site. The Hibbing
Daily Tribune heralded it as “the last word in
modern architecture and construction.”
ITH THE TEMPERATURE
John Knutsen ensured that the project only
employed local help and that the men worked
as many hours as the PWA permitted—and work,
they did. The hinged steel trusses were installed
during the winter with temperatures between
30 and 40 degrees below zero! Materials included
a 16,000-pound cooling tank, 10 miles of piping,
Hibbing Memorial Building, designed by Ernest R. Erickson of Duluth, December 27, 1935
Inset photo, courtesy Doug Ohman, 2011
and 20,000 square feet of steel-reinforced concrete
and terrazzo flooring. The refrigeration equipment arrived a month before the arena
floors were polished and waxed for the building’s dedication on November 20, 1935.
Workers begin construction of concrete and terrazzo floors, October 1935
Enjoying the newly completed rink, December 27, 1935
PWA inspector John K. Knutsen, 1935
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Architect Ernest R. Erickson,
1935
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Construction delivery, about 1935