Crossed Signals

When you see a huge steel art installation wrapped in orange plastic fencing in the middle of a high school campus, where for decades “temporary” classrooms stood, it makes you kind of wonder.

Did a project run out of money? Did a visionary lose concentration? Did a good plan go horribly, horribly wrong? 

It began as an outdoor installation, designed as a tribute to a stellar theater instructor  School. Eight months later it has yet to be completed. And no one is quite sure why.

The project created by Petaluma artist Sean Paul Lorentz, began as one bench to honor Patt Dombroski, who taught at the school until she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2001. She died in 2008 at the age of 61. With time, it blossomed into an installation art piece comprising of six steel benches in a circle and a sculpture in the school's main court yard. 

“Pat's family and my family go way back," said Lorentz, himself a graduate of PHS. "She did a lot for my brother when he was in high school."

Dombroski led a colorful life and passed on her passion for the arts to her students, say those who knew her. In the ‘60s, she collaborated with City Lights co-founder Lawrence Ferlinghetti on plays. She was the “It” girl at avant-garde street performances and be-ins with Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters.

Later in life she was an R&B singer, a social activist and television producer before settling in Petaluma where, for a dozen years starting in 1986, she taught teens at Petaluma High how to fearlessly express their feelings, her family recalled. 

“My sister was a dynamic person who dedicated her life to helping others: especially kids interested in the theater. She believed acting was a vehicle for self-actualization,” said her brother, local attorney Jim Dombroski. 

Hoping to honor Dombroski's creative spirit, Lorentz approached school officials in March 2009 with a plan to create one metal memorial bench. Among those present at the meeting was Petaluma High facilities manager, Kyle Manford and school principal, Brian Howard. 

“Very early on Brian Howard told me to work with Kyle Manford, so I did," Lorenz said. "When the plan expanded to six benches and a sculpture defining an open air classroom/theater, I was really excited."

Lorentz made small scale models and showed them to Manford, who no longer works on the Petaluma High campus. 

“It took me months to figure out all the details of the installation. I learned to work with rebar for the concrete foundations. I hand sanded all the edges. I tested everything. I thought I jumped through every hoop I was supposed to,” said Lorentz.

According to Lorentz’s e-mail records, the official approval to go ahead with the project came from Manford on June 2, 2010. 

In mid-July, when the school cut a $600-plus check to Van Bebber Steel for additional rolled steel, Lorentz grabbed his welding torch, dropped his face shield and kept working, donating his design skills, talent and time. 

On July 31, 2010 about twenty-five of Patt Dombroski’s family and friends gathered at the school to honor her spirit. They read passages from one of her journals that focused on how difficult it can be for a young artist and how the world must offer encouragement. Her two adult sons, Josh and Gabe Faure-Brac flew in for the memorial. 

“I remember thinking now that we’ve done the heavy lifting to get these big beautiful things installed, the students would be the ones who would put the finishing touches on; helping with the landscaping or any woodworking,” said Gabe Faure-Brac.

The piece was installed August 1, but instead of becoming a piece of public art, complete with landscaping, it has become something of an eyesore,  a place where students leave their milk cartons and has remained wrapped in orange plastic fencing.

"The communication has gotten lost with the school...they have not lived up to their end of the deal," Lorentz said.

Principal Howard says the project will be completed, but is cordoned off because the uneven ground between the benches poses a trip hazard for the students and the bolts coming out of the benches are dangerous.

"If the sculpture was put in a winery, that would be fine, they don’t have to deal with kids," Howard says. "But we are school and we have lots of regulations to follow and that makes it harder." He also says he never saw the complete plan before it was approved.

As for hiring landscapers to finish the project, Howard said his preference is for students to complete the landscaping in order to give them a learning opportunity.

"If you can get kids involved, it benefits them," he said.

Lorentz says when he asked about the delay, he was told it was due to budget issues. Meanwhile, the whole affair has left Patti Dombroski's family confused.

“We wanted to give a gift to the school – an outdoor classroom, a study space, a place to rehearse - and maybe it was our bad that we didn’t reach out more,” said Gabe Faure-Brac. “I’m totally fine if we have to make it safer. Maybe we need to make it safer. Maybe we need to get the student body more involved.”

The school is still behind the project and the delay is in no way a reflection of Lorentz, Howard said.

"It’s nothing bad on him," he said. "There is no blame there. We are fortunate that we had an artist in the community that was thinking about us. We’ll get it done." 

Until then, the Dombroski family can only hope.