SAFEKEEPING: The Art of Val Polyanin

The Acquisition

On May 18, 2022, the City of Crescent City was contacted by the Hambro Group and informed that their tenant, Val Polyanin, had decided to donate all his

remaining artwork to the City. There were a total of four shipping containers housing over 900 pieces of art, representing the artist’s life work. The amount

of art was astounding, and the collection itself was unlike anything you would expect to find along the side of the highway. Several City staff members

were invested in the opportunity to accept the donation and utilize the incredibly talented artist and long-time community member’s work to benefit the

commuinity as a whole.

The City recently adopted an Economic Development Strategic Action

Plan in 2021, which provides recipies to help spur economic growth,

including “7A: Strategic Art Plan” and “7V: Music and Arts Capital”. City

staff saw this unique gift as an opportunity to help the City achieve

some of its goals: invest in beautification and tourism attraction; and

focus on efforts to enhance downtown.

In 2017, the City purchased a former bank with the hope of converting

it into a new City Hall. By 2022, the project was still in the design

phase and had been sitting empty for 6 years. With an empty

building and an entire collection of art in hand, the Safekeeping

project was born. On June 30, 2022, City Council agreed to accept

the art and on February 6, 2023 agreed to temporarily open the doors

to exhibit the work.