Huru was waiting for a home. After talking to the public art team at the City of Petaluma, longtime resident and retired teacher Carol McKegney wandered through local parks, in front of the library, down side streets to the corner of D Street and Lakeville, but nothing felt right. Then one afternoon, standing at the confluence of two arms of the Petaluma River, she stopped. The land opened up before her—quiet, raw, full of potential. This is it, she thought. Not just for the sculpture, but for something more.
That’s when the idea took root. What if this place could become a canvas for everyone? A park where art met water, where the community could gather and grow together?
“All great ideas begin as seeds — quiet, unnoticed, buried deep — until the right conditions allow them to break through.”
Carol hadn’t expected to plant one that day, but she did. And as she shared it—with friends, neighbors, the local art community—that simple thought began to sprout into something much larger than she ever imagined.
World renowned abstract expressionist Mark di Suvero’s sculpture “Huru” —hello, goodbye in an Australian Aboriginal language, extends its iconic steel set of wind-activated, hugging arms, visible from the Westside, the Eastside, and the Highway in its present-day home on a long-neglected peninsula that is now Petaluma River Park.
With Socrates Park in her native New York as her inspiration – Carol had been successful in raising a solid amount of seed money from the philanthropic world which had stipulations to be donated to a non-profit foundation. “It had to benefit a not-for-profit-group,” she points out.
“It fueled my initial idea to place Huru on the peninsula in Petaluma,” Carol explains. “I planted the seed. It was the perfect fit.”
Di Suvero, 2010 National Medal of Arts recipient, founded Socrates Park back in 1986, a community-engaged and accessible arts space that is dedicated to supporting artists in the production and presentation of public artworks. Socrates Park was later designated as a New York City public park in 1998, ensuring the five-acre waterfront land in Queens is protected for generations to come.
“Huru was created in Petaluma in 1985 and has been featured in exhibitions across the country, including Crissy Field in San Francisco,” says Carol. She and her family are loaning the giant artwork to the park foundation in honor of her late husband, who was lifelong friend, right hand man and longtime installation/studio manager for di Suvero. Mark di Suvero generously donated Huru’s installation costs and di Suvero’s current West Coast studio manager and renowned sculptor in his own right, Sean Paul Lorentz undertook the massive installation, under the public gaze in the fall of 2023.
The land had sat empty and neglected over many decades. It had been zoned by the City as parkland in 1996, thus attracting several concept ideas over the years but up until then, no real plan as to how or who would optimize its 24 acres as a community resource.
Fortunately for the community, many forces came together in the exact same time and place, led by residents David Duskin, Darling Gonzalez, Seair Lorentz, and Sean Paul Lorentz, who had long dreamed of creating a new place for art and community in Petaluma. Carol’s search for a home for Huru, her own seed of an idea, outreach and initial funding donation could not have been better timed.
“The nature of this initial donation stipulating a not-for-profit recipient, led to the subsequent formation of a new non-profit in 2019. The Petaluma River Park Foundation, went on to garner substantial additional fundraising and community support and entered into escrow on the land.”
“Lowell’s first name on his birth certificate was Hugh,” Carol further explains over mugs of coffee in her house in West Petaluma on an especially fogged-in July morning.
She first met Lowell, the Californian who would become the love-of-her-life and future husband, when he was putting up a huge piece at the Hirshorn Museum (part of the Smithsonian) in Washington DC.
“Lowell went to work with Mark after he graduated from college and Mark needed help with the show that really “launched” him at the Whitney in 1971.”
“Huru—Hugh, hugs . . . Mark gifted the sculpture to Lowell in the 80s.” Carol reminisces. “It’s full circle now that Huru is home in Petaluma.”
Talking of home— first house that my husband, Timo and I purchased in West Petaluma for our growing family was fortuitously located next door to the McKegneys. We’re thankful to have landed in a modestly-sized, late Victorian on a tight-knit, tree-lined avenue, where we enjoyed life as close neighbors with Carol, Lowell and their then-grade-school-age daughters Kathryn and Alison. We became neighbors over a decade before Lowell passed away in the spring of 2011, aged 62 years. And though we’ve moved home twice over the past two decades, we’ve remained close friends with Carol and her daughters ever since.
The fact that Timo would be the real estate broker representing the McNear Family in the sale of the land was fortuitous for all as he was able to introduce, explain, negotiate and eventually sell the remarkable idea of a fledgling foundation’s public-owned park to his out-of-town clients.
We finish our coffee and walk over to look at framed black-and-white and color photographs on the wall in Carol’s dining room. Lowell McKegney and Mark Di Suvero’s extraordinary bond dates back to before Carol’s late husband could walk. In fact, it was the Mckegney family, Tiburon civic leaders George and Elizabeth (Betty) McKegney and particularly Betty’s mother, Mary Lowell, a prominent art teacher, who sponsored the Di Suvero family when they moved to the States from China in 1941 to escape the outbreak of WWII.
A young Lowell Mckegney assisting Mark di Siuvero on a construction project in Marin County.
Mark di Suvero and Lowell McKegney at work
The artist was born Marco Polo di Suvero in Shanghai in 1933 to Venetian parents, Matilde Millo di Suvero and Victor E. di Suvero, an Italian diplomat. He immigrated with his parents and three siblings to the United States when he was eight years old.
According to the Smithsonian: “After studying sculpture and philosophy at the University of California, di Suvero moved to New York City. He drew his inspiration from the Manhattan docks and began using wood and metal from demolition sites to construct his sculpture. In 1960 the artist suffered a broken back and leg in an elevator accident. Doctors said he would never walk, but the determined di Suvero recovered in just four years. While confined to a wheelchair, the artist made small sculptures and learned to use an electric arc welder.”
Di Suvero learned to use the crane and cherry picker, among other tools, to bend steel for his designs. His sculptures, including Huru are designed to interact with the elements and with his audiences.
With subsequent support from over 400 donors—the Petaluma River Park Foundation purchased the land in late 2020 and began envisioning a community park. These dreams have become a reality in a relatively short time frame, with the opening of Petaluma River Park, featuring an accessible perimeter trail and welcoming daily visitors. In partnership with Sonoma Land Trust, a diverse community coalition has helped shape the park’s development.
A representative board has been established, and a major grant from the California State Coastal Conservancy boosted early funding. In Fall 2023, the "Dream It" campaign launched, inviting the community to share their vision for the riverfront park. It has been exciting to applaud and see such visionary dreams come to life and we continue to join increasing numbers of friends, neighbors and community businesses and organizations in support of on-going fundraising campaigns.
Katy’s fluffy little dog, True listens in on our conversation, blending in to her surrounds as she lounges atop the sofa on a fuzzy, white blanket. I asked Carol what she would like to see happen in the future with regards to her family's unique legacy and specifically the loan of Huru to Petaluma River Park. It’s important to Carol that the story of Huru and how it came to be here is known. How she has seeded the McKegney legacy and tended its growth.
Katy & Carol McKegney & Huru at Petaluma River Park
Although Carol, active resident around town and assistant high school tennis coach, is a seasoned volunteer for the fledgling park (along with Katy’s intrepid dog, True), she says she would also like to consider someday taking a seat on the foundation’s board.
“For me, it’s about keeping history alive,” she says. “Honoring the past and the people whose stories shaped a place.”
For more info on Huru, here’s a link to an earlier article I wrote in 2023.
What’s next at the Petaluma River Park and how to get involved: https://www.petalumariverpark.org/about#mission-vision
