Construction begins Monday, March 8, on the Leo Politi Garden, on the east side of the new Henry Madden Library. The garden honors the friendship between Fresno's most famous children's illustrator and author, Leo Politi, and his dear friend, the late Professor Arne Nixon. Politi, who was born in Fresno, lived most of his adult life in Los Angeles, but returned many times to speak at, and draw and paint at, workshops put on by Nixon.
The garden is funded by ANCA, the Arne Nixon Center Advocates. ANCA is the support group for the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature, a department of the Library. The Arne Nixon Center was started in 1995, when Professor Nixon donated his personal collection of 22,000 children’s books to the Library. When he passed away in 1997, Professor Nixon left the Library a generous endowment to endow the Center. Today the fast-growing collection stands at 50,000+ books. It also includes the papers of authors and illustrators, and original art by illustrators, including Leo Politi.
ANCA, led by President Denise Sciandra, has 500+ members in 26 states. ANCA has raised the funds, via small donations and an annual fundraising event, the Secret Garden Party, to build the initial stage of the garden. The first round of construction will include the hardscape: walkways and a curving bench, and a fountain like the one in Leo Politi’s 1950 Caldecott-winning picture book Song of the Swallows.
Landscape architect Robert Boro based the garden design on Leo Politi’s art. “He never drew a straight line,” Boro said. The plants Boro chose are typical of Los Angeles home gardens, like Leo Politi’s. Because the garden is in a sheltered niche between the Library’s north and south wings (and directly under Starbucks), it can include delicate plants that need extra protection in Fresno winters.
The garden will include a Bauhinia Forficata, or Orchid Tree, that will be marked with a memorial plaque to honor the late Robert S. Billings, Professor of English on this campus from 1957-1992. The tree was donated by Professor Billings' widow, Bette Peterson, owner of Poppy Lane Press.
With luck, the garden will be completed in time for the Arne Nixon Center’s national Oz conference, “Oz: The Books,” to be held on this campus May 14-16, 2010.
“The garden comes as a nice surprise,” said Arne Nixon Curator Angelica Carpenter. “That is, we knew it was coming, but we didn’t know when.” Carpenter and the ANCA Board are working now to plan a garden dedication, and a Leo Politi exhibition, for sometime this summer, “once we have survived Oz.”
In the meantime, the Arne Nixon Center has prepared on online exhibition of Leo Politi inscriptions, which he drew and painted in books now in the Center’s collection. These may be seen at http://ecollections.lib.csufresno.edu/arne_nixon/collections/politi.php.
“Leo Politi was ahead of his time,” said Carpenter. “His focus on children from many cultures set a standard that changed the nature of children’s literature. We are proud to have this garden as an outward and visible sign of the treasures to be found in the Arne Nixon Center. The garden will stand as a tribute to ANCA, and to all the people who knew and loved Leo Politi and Arne Nixon, or who have been inspired by their work.”
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