{"id":403053,"date":"2026-07-18T02:57:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T02:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/403053\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T02:57:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T02:57:39","slug":"video-observer-fifty-year-old-fullerton-sculpture-flies-toward-local-landmark-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/403053\/","title":{"rendered":"Video Observer: Fifty-Year-Old Fullerton\u00a0Sculpture\u00a0Flies Toward Local Landmark Status"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFlight\u201d Sculpture during the 50th anniversary celebration.<\/p>\n

Standing\u00a0between\u00a0Fullerton Public\u00a0Library\u2019s Main Branch\u00a0and\u00a0City Hall,\u00a0artist\u00a0Aldo Casanova\u2019s\u00a0Flight, the first piece of public art in Fullerton,\u00a0is now flying toward local landmark status as it\u00a0celebrates\u00a0fifty years in the community.\u00a0I was one of\u00a0over forty\u00a0people\u00a0who attended the city\u2019s commemoration ceremony for Fullerton\u2019s Bicentennial sculpture on July 10, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Flight\u2019s 50th anniversary\u00a0celebration\u00a0was held underneath\u00a0a\u00a0sweltering summer sun.\u00a0Many of the red, white and blue balloon displays that\u00a0city staff had set up at the beginning and the end of the walkway, which\u00a0passes\u00a0directly\u00a0by\u00a0the\u00a0piece of public art, were popping,\u00a0sounding like fireworks. Quite a few\u00a0local residents,\u00a0Fullerton Public Library Trustees and library and\u00a0city staff who attended were\u00a0gathering\u00a0in the shade of City Hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Anita O\u2019Keefe Torres, the director of Fullerton Public Library, spoke in front of the Flight sculpture to commemorate the public art piece\u2019s 50th anniversary.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0people\u00a0waited,\u00a0they\u00a0had a chance to\u00a0view\u00a0a few\u00a0historical\u00a0artifacts,\u00a0including photographs,\u00a0books and\u00a0displays about\u00a0the sculpture,\u00a0which\u00a0had all been\u00a0preserved and\u00a0taken out of the Fullerton Public Library\u2019s Local History Room\u00a0by archivist Cheri Pape. There were also light refreshments\u00a0provided by\u00a0Porto\u2019s Bakery.\u00a0Around 10\u00a0am, once\u00a0everyone\u00a0had\u00a0arrived,\u00a0Anita O\u2019Keefe Torres, Director\u00a0of the Fullerton Public Library,\u00a0Sueling\u00a0Chen, Chair of the Fullerton Public Library Board of Trustees,\u00a0and Ernie Kelsey, Fullerton Heritage President, delivered\u00a0short speeches\u00a0to start\u00a0the commemoration ceremony.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Keefe Torres said, \u201cAs you all know, I\u2019m new to the area, so I\u2019m also new to the\u00a0Flightsculpture, and as people were explaining the sculpture to me, I heard many different interpretations of what it might be. I heard a paper airplane. I heard a checkmark. I heard a book as it is being opened\u2026and what I came away with is\u00a0that\u00a0I think that\u2019s what art does; it helps your imagination take flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

City of Fullerton representatives stand in front of Flight.<\/p>\n

She\u00a0soon\u00a0introduced\u00a0Sueling\u00a0Chen from the Library\u2019s Board of Trustees, who\u00a0wanted attendees to imagine back to 1976 when the nation was celebrating its Bicentennial. Chen said, \u201cHere in Fullerton, we had a group of visionary citizens who asked one question: what can we create today that will inspire people fifty years from now?\u2026 Florence Arnold was the Chair of the Bicentennial Committee and spearheaded the whole project. And you know what the answer was? It\u2019s not a parade; it\u2019s not fireworks\u2026the answer was a dream cast in a zinc and steel post, and that\u2019s what we call\u00a0Flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

I learned from listening to Chen\u2019s speech that the sculpture almost didn\u2019t happen because\u00a0the\u00a0cost\u00a0was nearly $50,000, an\u00a0expensive\u00a0investment.\u00a0The public library\u2019s board at the time\u00a0stepped up and made a large contribution along with many other donors and donations to make the sculpture happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Library doesn\u2019t just collect knowledge; they truly believe\u00a0in\u00a0investing\u00a0in the imagination,\u201d said Chen\u00a0in her speech, \u201cSo, fifty years later,\u00a0Flight\u00a0is still here, looking at all of us\u2026 Artist Aldo Casanova believed in humanity\u2019s journey into space and exploration, but beneath that is something more universal\u2026creativity and the courage to be able to dream beyond what we already know.\u00a0It\u2019s the same as what our library believes in. Every book begins with someone\u2019s imagination. Every scientific discovery begins with someone\u2019s curiosity. Every great invention begins with someone asking \u2018what if.\u2019 So perhaps that\u2019s why\u00a0Flight\u00a0belongs here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fullertonians arrive for the \u201cFlight\u201d 50th anniversary celebration on Friday, July 10th.<\/p>\n

According to her, generally, with owner approval, the historic preservation organization, Fullerton Heritage, completes the nomination form. The property then goes before the Fullerton Landmarks Commission, and if recommended, goes before the City Council for final approval. She said that Fullerton Heritage currently has five properties pending approval, one of which is\u00a0Flight.<\/p>\n

Richey said,\u00a0\u201cI completed the nomination form\u2026and I learned a lot about the history of how\u00a0Flight\u00a0was selected and installed, as\u00a0well as information on Aldo Casanova and Jack Brogan, the fabricator. I did not realize that a lot of remarkable pieces of furniture and art by postwar artists had been fabricated by Brogan, including the Wiggle Chair with architect Frank\u00a0Gehry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Entryway to trail leading to Flight sculpture outside Fullerton Public Library.<\/p>\n

Cheri Pape, curator of the Fullerton Public Library\u2019s Local History Room, was also surprised by\u00a0the significance of\u00a0Flight\u2019s\u00a0sculptor and fabricator.\u00a0She\u00a0discovered while researching with Deb that\u00a0Casanova and Brogan\u00a0were really prominent artists at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a big fan of Public Art in general. I don\u2019t think Fullerton has enough,\u201d said Pape. \u201cI like that it is in our\u00a0\u2018civic center\u2019\u00a0for the community to enjoy \u2013 as opposed to our WPA murals\u00a0that are somewhat hidden. Love that this was the first piece that the City of Fullerton invested in. I was just hoping to get some signage for the\u00a0sculpture\u2019s\u00a0fiftieth anniversary, but once we discovered we had a gem,\u00a0Deb thought it was Landmark worthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ernie Kelsey, President of Fullerton Heritage, said,\u00a0\u201cIt has\u00a0been fun over the last six months talking about\u00a0Flight. This was born out of Cheri Pape and Deb Richey\u2026Now,\u00a0Fullerton Heritage\u00a0is working on having some signage that explains the background of\u00a0Flight\u00a0next to it.\u00a0My favorite thing was learning about Jack, the fabricator, the unsung hero who went on to great things. As far as local landmark status, we\u2019re waiting for the July 14th City Council meeting to see what\u2019s projected on the next agenda.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fullerton Heritage\u00a0worked closely with\u00a0Public\u00a0Works, who, according to\u00a0Kelsey, \u201cdid the remarkable job of cleaning out the plants and other vegetation that kept the sculpture from being viewed.\u201d\u00a0He also mentioned that city workers fixed the lights\u00a0on\u00a0the concrete base of\u00a0Flight, so the sculpture is now more visible at night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fascinating Fullerton residents for decades, the public art piece was designed to \u201csymbolize the continuous movement from Earth to Space,\u201d according to\u00a0Aldo Casanova\u2019s artist statement. So, the next time you\u2019re driving on Commonwealth or walking between City Hall and the library,\u00a0be on the\u00a0lookout for\u00a0the 40-foot-tall\u00a0sculpture that is\u00a0Flight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Flight Sculpture between the library and City Hall.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

\tDiscover more from Fullerton Observer<\/p>\n

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cFlight\u201d Sculpture during the 50th anniversary celebration. Standing\u00a0between\u00a0Fullerton Public\u00a0Library\u2019s Main Branch\u00a0and\u00a0City Hall,\u00a0artist\u00a0Aldo Casanova\u2019s\u00a0Flight, the first piece of public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,32973,161683],"class_list":["post-403053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-emerson-little","tag-video-observer-fifty-year-old-fullerton-sculpture-flies-toward-local-landmark-status"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}