Portrait of an artist of a different time

Henry Allen Nord's painting "Labor at Rest," donated to the Idaho Falls Municipal Library in April 1940, still hanging in the Museum of Idaho. Another mural was hung at the same time, but has gone somewhere else in ensuing years.

While researching a writing this week’s “Looking Back” column for the Post Register, I came across a name I didn’t know, Henry Allen Nord, an Idaho Falls native most famous for his mural work in the 1930s and the artist responsible for the largest piece of public art produced by the New Deal.

Born in 1904, Nord left Idaho Falls as a young man to attend the Art Institute of Chicago and later Yale University. After graduating, he moved to Southern California, where he did his work an taught.

His parents, Nels and Hannah Nord, remained here, however, and in April 1940 he returned to Idaho Falls to donate two large paintings to the Idaho Falls Municipal Library, which at that time had been significantly remodeled and expanded (it is now part of the Museum of Idaho.)

One of Nord’s paintings, “Labor at Rest,” still hangs above an office door at the museum’s south end. The other larger painting, the mural “Men and Horses,” is no longer hanging and its whereabouts are unknown, said Museum Curator Claire Smith.

I got interested in Nord, and discovered that after graduating from college he moved to Long Beach, Calif., where his most famous work still exists, a tile mosaic entitled “Recreations of Long Beach.”

Nord's mosaic mural in Long Beach, Calif.

Celebrating Long Beach's love of recreational living, this was the largest piece of public art to emerge from the New Deal. Nord started it in 1936 and, with assistance from Albert Henry King and Stanton MacDonald-Wright, finished it in 1938. It graced the facade of the old Long Beach Municipal Auditorium until the building was torn down in the 1970s. In 1982, it was relocated to its current space at 3rd Street and Promenade, where it now caps off the north end of the popular strip.

Plenty of people today have strong views about the government’s role in funding art projects, but I think it is interesting to go back 80 years to the Depression and look at attitudes then.

As administrator of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Civil Works Administration and the Works Progress Administration, Harry Hopkins noted that “artists were starving the same as everyone else.” He believed that paid work was psychologically better for unemployed people than simply giving them money, and the Public Works of Art Project was established in December 1933. Over six months, $1.3 million was spent, employing 3,749 qualified artists, resulting in more than 15,000 pieces of public art.

In his 1934 report “Implications of the Public Works of Art Project,” Program Director Edward Bruce wrote, “It has, as many of the artists expressed it, broken down the wall of their isolation and brought them in touch and in line with the life of the nation.”

A few other things about Henry Allen Nord: When World War II started he enlisted in the U.S. Army. Too old to serve in combat, his mission was to help design camouflage.

He died in 1981 and is buried in Idaho Falls’ Rose Hill Cemetery along with his parents; his wife, Dorothea, and daughter, Carolyn, both of whom died in 1969; and his older brother, Lawrence, who died in 1904.

Traffic signal being installed at First Street and Ammon-Lincoln Road

Workers from Wheeler Electric installing the foundations of the new traffic signal at First Street and Ammon-Lincoln Road.

Any driver who has lived in the Idaho Falls-Ammon area for any length of time has come to know the intersection of Ammon Road and First Street as one of the worst.

Get ready for the end of an era. The four-way stop at the intersection is being replaced by an up-to-date four-way traffic signal, courtesy of the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council, which identifies high-risk traffic areas. The work should be done by early May.

The state agency is administering roughly $340,000 in Federal Highway Administration funds on the project at the Ammon intersection, probably best known for Country Corner on the southwest side.

Steve Sprague, LHTAC’s safety construction coordinator in Boise, said the signal will include detectors and preamps for emergency vehicles. Although new curb and gutter are being done to make the intersection compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, paving the roadway is not part of the project. “Hopefully, paving comes in later as part of the improvement,” he said.

Melaleuca adds new market in Poland

One year after entering Austria, Melaleuca has expanded into Poland. Starting April 1, the Idaho Falls-based company began signing up customers there.

“We are eager to share our superior, natural health products with the citizens of Poland,” said Pieter Kiepe, Melaleuca’s European general manager said in a press release. “Opening Poland enables us to expand our Melaleuca family, offer wellness products to more customers. Melaleuca recognizes Poland’s potential for growth because consumers are increasingly interested in effective wellness products that are economically friendly and safe in the home.”

Poland has one of the largest populations in Eastern Europe and a robust economy. Kiepe said that Melaleuca’s marketing executives (i.e. salespeople) in Europe, some of whom are Polish by descent, have been clamoring to see the market opened and were excited when Melaleuca shared its plans earlier this year, talking with their personal connections right away.

With this announcement, Melaleuca now operates in 19 countries worldwide, six of them in Europe. While the majority of its business comes from its U.S. and Canadian operations, sales from overseas accounted for 45 percent of the company’s 2014 revenues, which topped $1 billion.

Melaleuca does business in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Poland, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.

Grade school teacher seeks help for robotics class

Price on Amazon.com is $350.

This is a post I read on Facebook last night that I am reprinting in hopes that someone in the business community -- or the community at large -- might be willing to help.

It is from Seth Callister, who teaches a fifth grade class at Templeview Elementary School. Besides knowing Seth as a fellow guitar player, I had the pleasure of substitute teaching his class last week. A nicer bunch of kids I have not encountered.

Templeview is not what I would call one of the more affluent schools in Idaho Falls School District 91. From what I'm able to seek, a lot of the families are of limited means

Here is what Seth put up on Facebook Monday night:

Friends, I REALLY need your help. We're trying to have a robotics club at our school. Last year another school let me take a Lego kit to make robots for a competition as a pilot program for our school. That kit is no longer available for our use. I got four partial VEX Robotics Kits from another school but it's nowhere near enough! Today we started. We had over 30 students come! Their enthusiasm is extremely high. Does anyone out there have Lego Robotic Kits or VEX Robotic Kits that we could use for two months, or, even better, have kits you no longer use and would be willing to donate? Or if you would like to donate so we can purchase some that would help. One VEX kit costs $325 on eBay. I've heard before that the Lego kits are about the same price. The Lego kits are simpler, while the VEX kits require higher level of thinking. HELP!

This seems a little modest to be a candidate for gofundme.com or anything like it. If you want to help, the phone number at Templeview is 525-7660.

Economic development agencies merge to form REDI

There was a shift Monday in eastern Idaho’s economic development landscape as two agencies — Grow Idaho Falls and Bingham Economic Development — joined to form the Regional Economic Development Corporation for Eastern Idaho, REDI for short.

The merger was announced at Golden Valley Natural Foods in Shelley. “(REDI) is a vital partnership that allows us to offer prospective and existing companies the best locations, business and talent options to meet their needs,” said Bank of Idaho CEO Park Price, a member of REDI’s executive board.

Both organizations have been on the scene for years. Grow Idaho Falls started in the 1990s as Initiative 2000, then became the Eastern Idaho Economic Development Council. The name change to Grow Idaho Falls happened around 2003.

According to a news release, merger talks began in September 2013. “(There) was a compelling reason to change our strategy and combine forces for the benefit of business expansion, retention and job growth,” Price said. “Together, we represent the second largest workforce in the state of Idaho. … REDI builds on what we’re already doing and takes it to the next level with a unified voice and focus on putting business needs first.”

Darlene Gerry

Darlene Gerry has been named to serve as REDI’s interim executive director as a search committee looks for someone to fill the position. Gerry retired in 2014 from her job as Idaho State University’s executive director of research innovation. Her partners on the REDI executive search committee are Scott Hinschberger, Sylvia Medina, Roger Plothow and Mark Baker.

“REDI is about more than Bingham and Bonneville counties,” Gerry said. “It’s about the region in the broadest sense. When we work collaboratively to attract companies looking to relocate and to help our existing industries grow, we all win.”

On a separate but related note, the city of Idaho Falls is advertising for its own economic development coordinator. The job description reads: “This position assists in the recruitment, retention, expansion, and promotion of business to further economic and business developments in the city; participates in administrative and operational activities associated with economic business development; researches and formulates long-range goals for the city; develops policies and procedures, position papers and negotiates with administrative and/or elected officials regarding incentives for various types of projects that will further benefit the community’s economic development efforts. Interfaces and coordinates with the development community, local businesses and various city divisions, and staff.”

Salary range is advertised at $59,612 to $83,616 annually. Applications are being taken through 5 p.m. Thursday.