SIERRA COT]NTY ARTISTS DIRECTORY
Spring 2008 Volu411l lruth orlqlqqqqqgl \M
WPA Fountain at
T or C's New Mexico
Veterans Home
by Charles Bennett
An outdoor fountain in the central
oatio of the Veterans' Center is
recognized as one of New Mexico's
WPATreasures. Made of terra cotta,the
fountain features 4frogs on the top
tier,water emitting from their mouths,
with a single stream shooting vertically
from the very top of the fountain. Four
sitting ducks occupy the second tier,
water springing from their mouths,
with 4 turtles positioned at the base,
heads turned, also with water streams
arcing from their mouths. The terra
cotta material of the sculpted reptiles
and ducks is commonly misidentified
as carved stone.
The artist of the fountain is Eugenie
Shonnard, born 1886 in Yonkers, New
York,dying 1978in Santa F6. Eugenie
was apparently a delicate child and not
permitted to engage in normal
childhood activities, instead finding
pleasure in keeping birds, rabbits,
squirrels, doves, a lamb, and others
pets. From these experiences she
developed a deep love for animal life.
In early recognition of her artistic talent
she was enrolled in the New York
Schoolof Applied Design forWomen
while in her teens. Although she
received accolades for her designs for
silk, lace, and wallpaper, she soon tired
of designing repetitive patterns, and
began modeling clay. One of her
teachers was the famous
Czechoslovakian artist Alphonse
Mucha, who encouraged her to go to
Paris to study sculpture. Her father
having died, Eugenie and her mother
went to France in 191 1.
8{4 In Paris Eugenie signed up for art
classes and showed several early clay
models to the renowned sculptor
Auguste Rodin,who was favorably
impressed and offered to critique her
sculptures any time. She was
considered a student of Emile
Bourdelle, a pupil of Rodin. lt was
cheaper for an artist to live in Paris than
in New York in those days. Eugenie and
her mother shared a nicely furnished
apartment for S 10 a month near the
Luxembourg Gardens. Her nearby
studio cost 53 a month.
Eugenie made the most of her time
abroad, traveling to Czechoslovakia
with Mucha one summer where she
made clay models of villagers, and
spending several summers in Brittany
sculpting and painting. One of the
sculptures she made of a Brittany
villager is in the collections of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New
York. Eugenie and her mother stayed in
Paris untilWorld War I was declared in
August, 19,l4, returning to New York on
the last steamer leaving France. The
next year she received perhaps her
most unusual commission from the
Bronx Zoo: sculpting the head of Dinah,
a 5 year-old gorilla. For several months
she was closeted in a room with the
gorilla, which became very fond of her.
ln 1925 Eugenie came to Santa F6 and
was given a studio in the Palace of the
Governors. She was deeply impressed
by the Puebloan Indians living in
villages along the Rio Grande studying
them and modeling their busts in terra
cotta and olaster for which she was
praised. ln 1926 she returned to Paris
with a successful one-woman
show featuring her animal, bird,
Puebloan Indian, and Brittany
sculptures. By now she was considered
a noted sculptor and received manY
commissions. ln 1927 Eugenie and her
mother returned to Santa F6, again at
the invitation of the museum. She
purchased a farm house on the out-
skirts of town surrounded by orchards,
converting the barn into a studio.
In 1937, during Clyde Tingley's second
term as governor of New Mexico (1937-
1938) he miraculously secured federal
funding for construction of a hospital
for crippled children. The hospital was
to be located in Hot Springs (nowTruth
or Consequences), NM. Although the
governor was the political clout behind
the establishment of the hospital, New
Mexico First Lady Carrie Wooster
Tingley was the heart and soul of the
project, donating both time and
considerable funds. When money ran
short, Governor Tingley used his
authority to manipulate budgets on
other projects to get more moneY, to
have trainloads of penitentiary bricks
appropriated and transported to the
building site,to browbeat federal
officials, and to intimidate the railroads
and other big business in order to
complete the hospital. The citizens of
Hot Springs voted to have the hospital
named for Carrie Tingley. The hospital
ooened in 1937 and remained in
operation until 'l 981 when itwas
moved to Albuquerque with its large
collection of WPA artwork. In 1983 the
complex was renovated and currently
serves as the New Mexico Veterans'
Home.
Many artists in New Mexico were
employed under the Federal
government's New Deal Public arts
programs created to employ artists
during the Great Depression (1929-
1 943). Art produced under these
various programs has come to be
known as "WPA Art," an acronYm for
the New Deal program,theWorks
Progress Administration.
Records indicate that Eugenie
Shonnard was paid 5700 in WPA
Federal Art Project funds in 1937 to
make the fountain for the Carrie
Tingley Hospital for Crippled Children.
She considered the fountain a major
commission, mentioning in a 1964
interview:"1 made the models and the
plaster molds and then I had it put in
terra cotta. At the time they had a very
big kiln in Denver where the Pieces
could be fired. .. I did that only in the
studio and it was pretty big size...l did
it in sections." The subject matter of
the fountain is said to reflect Eugenie
Shonnard's "love for animal life". Some
locals refer to it as "the turtle fountain,"
contextualizing it with Turtleback
Mountain. The fountain may be visited
at the New Mexico State Veterans'
Home,992 South BroadwaY,Truth or
Conseq uences, N M (57 5.894.4200).
Turtle Fountain at
New Mexico
Veterans Home
in Truth or
Consequences
Photo: New Mexico veterans Home J+ 9