John Palo-Kangas Sites

John Palo-Kangas created a 14-foot concrete sculpture of Father Junipero Serra in 1937 for the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The sculpture stood for more than 50 years until it was replaced in 1989. Wilbur Robottom created a 3,000-pound bronze copy to take the place of the decaying concrete original. Originally located in a place of prominence in park triangle in front of Ventura's city hall, the statue was removed in July 2020 and placed by the Mission Basilica San Buenaventura in downtown Ventura in February 2024. It is located by the southeast corner of the elementary...

The statue "Father Garces" is State Historical Landmark No. 277. From the LA Times, 7 May 1939, "Indians will unveil, a right reverend monsignor will bless, the statue of Padre Garces at Bakersfield, 2 p.m. today. Made by John Palo-Kangas on the Federal Art Project, it is State Historical Landmark Reg. No. 277, and represents the first white man to enter the Kern region. A Garces Memorial Committee made possible the statue and will conduct today's elaborate program." The sculpture is carved from Indiana limestones on a Carnelian granite base. The figure of Garces itself is 16'4" and with the base, the...

Federal Art Project artist Uno John Palokangas (known as John Palo-Kangas) sculpted "Spirit of the CCC" (1935) for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) WWI Veterans Camp located at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, CA. Also known as "Iron Mike," the 10-foot Art Deco sculpture depicts a young man stripped to the waist and holding a shovel. World War I veteran Robert J. Pauley of Carmichael, CA, was the artist's model. Palo-Kangas told a reporter that the work would be called "Conservation of Man and Nature." President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the sculpture on October 1, 1935. During his visit to Los Angeles,...

Several New Deal art works grace the Santa Monica high school campus, including a 7-foot-high cast stone sculpture titled "The Viking." Located on the patio between the Art and History buildings, the sculpture was created by John Palo-Kangas in 1937 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project (FAP). "The sculpture is set upon a rectangular concrete basin which has been capped. The backdrop for the sculpture is composed of patterned blocks with a stylized wave design"—blocks which "also appear in the foyer of Barnum Hall and around the main entrance of the History Building" (HRG Report, p. 24).