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Gallery Garden artwork honors late husband

T-R PHOTO BY LOGAN METZGER Five paintings done by Larry Hagstrand decorate the walls of the Gallery Garden for the residents of Marshalltown to enjoy and to honor Hagstrand’s memory.

In September of 2017, a new attraction opened in Marshalltown, the Gallery Garden. What was once a pile of rubble, turned into an enviro-friendly setting where one can read a book, visit with friends, or have a cup of coffee, while listening to a nearby fountain. The Gallery Garden just isn’t a place to relax for co-owners Barb Hagstrand, of Marshalltown, and Jeff Mitchell, of Cedar Rapids, because the art has some special significance.

All five paintings that are currently hanging around the Gallery Garden are in fact the work of Larry Hagstrand, Barb’s late husband.

A plaque in the garden describes Hagstrand as “a creative, caring and consummate artist whose award-winning work spans the nation.”

The five paintings, none of which have names, include a painting of a Tuscan-looking village, a painting of vases/pottery, a painting of some trees next to a lake, a painting of a cityscape and a painting of buttes in Utah.

The process of making the paintings weatherproof is done by Nesper Sign in Cedar Rapids. Mitchell and Hagstrand took in the original paintings, which are the same size as the ones currently hanging in the garden, and Nesper Sign scanned them. The scanned image is then laminated onto a flat piece of PVC plastic. Mitchell said the paintings hanging in the garden will last for close to ten years before they’ll need to be changed.

“These paintings represent different times of his life and different styles. They’ll be around for a while,” Mitchell said.

During the tornado of July 2018 three other paintings were destroyed, but Mitchell said Nesper Sign has reprinted them and they will be up in two to three weeks.

Mitchell said the high winds busted out the three paintings and tore off the solar panels, but the rest of the paintings remained undamaged.

Besides the paintings, the only other art piece in the garden is a seven-foot tall, four-foot wide stainless steel butterfly which sits high on the Kibbey Building wall overlooking the Gallery Garden, which “symbolizes the metamorphosis of the Kibbey Building,” according to Mitchell.

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Contact Logan Metzger at

641-753-6611 or

lmetzger@timesrepublican.com

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