MOORHEAD — In his life, Richard Szeitz was more concerned about his art being available and accessible to the public than in having his work in private collections or in museums.
When he died in 2022 at the age of 92, he was remembered for creating high-profile pieces like the fountain at West Acres, a memorial for the 1997 flood in Grand Forks and religious art in area churches.
Three years later, a wide variety of his life’s work is being shown in the place he arguably had the most impact on the regional arts scene. “A Devoted Life,” a career retrospective, opened in the Roland Dille Center of the Arts at Minnesota State University Moorhead, where Szeitz taught from 1966 to 1997.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
“It’s wonderful. He wanted his art to be public and the public can see it,” his daughter Magda Szeitz said. “This is sort of the memorial that I really wanted for him.”
She will give a talk about her father and his work during a reception from 4:30 to 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 2. She’s looking forward to the event as a reunion of old friends, colleagues and students of her father’s.
“For us to share with new students what a fantastic man he was — what a gift,” she said. “He was devoted to his community, devoted to his family, his students, his church, education, just being a positive person. He was passionate about defending the underdog, supporting the underdog, and the artists are often the underdogs.”
In a 1996 interview with The Forum, Szeitz said making art was as much about creating art for himself as it was about creating art for others.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
“It’s a purging experience for both the maker and the consumer of art,” he said at the time. “You feel better by expressing yourself.”
Growing up in Hungary, Szeitz was influenced by art and his Catholic faith. The two came together often in his early work when he was a priest and signed his works, “Father Philip Richard Szeitz.”
Communists occupied Hungary at the end of World War II and eventually took over control of the country. Richard fled in 1950 and eventually settled in Wisconsin, becoming a United States citizen in 1961.
The show covers his range of interest in art, from his early prints of religious scenes and symbols to the metal sculptures he’s better remembered for locally. It was the former that inspired the latter when he was asked to adapt some drawings to 3-dimensional forms.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
He started with steel, but found it too hard to work with. He eventually switched to copper and soon realized the material, commonly used in plumbing, could allow him to make fountains.
While he liked copper because it is more malleable, that also meant that over time pieces could get bent out of shape.
In the center of the gallery is a large fountain featuring playful figures with their arms outstretched, often holding plants. The water flow only partially works now and Magda, a local artist and teacher, is working to repair the piece.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
“He liked doing public art. He liked accessible art that you can touch, art that is an experience in the sound, in the connection and water,” she said.
Not all of his sculptures were fountains. He created crucifixes for Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in Moorhead, where he attended, as well as Nativity Church in Fargo.
Many of his pieces are still on permanent display, including the West Acres “Fountain of Abundance,” which features 20-foot-tall stalks of wheat from which water flows down to flowers and the beaks of cranes. The piece was installed when West Acres first opened 53 years ago. Other pieces are lost to time.
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She’s working on a list of where his works can be found in the public, including “Flood Rescue,” a memorial to the 1997 flood in Grand Forks. The sculpture is still in Grand Forks, but a model is part of the MSUM show.
Magda is trying to find out whether a larger piece of three people lifting their arms together is still in what is now the Sanford Island Park Clinic at 700 First Ave. S., Fargo. A small model for the work is featured in the show, as are a number of maquettes for other projects.
There are also a few smaller illustrations that feature similar motifs, like tall grass, wading birds and floral designs.
“Hungarian folk art is very floral. My grandmother did a lot of embroidery and handiwork. That was kind of how she would make a living,” Magda said. “His favorite was really to do organic things. I think that’s what he excelled at was flowers and birds.”
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Magda said being able to put the show together from his archives has allowed her to reconnect with some pieces she hadn’t seen in years.
It’s also a relief of sorts as some of the pieces on display were trapped in her garage two years ago when a heavy snow led to the structure collapsing as she was storing art inside.
While putting the show together has been a lot of work for herself and the staffers at MSUM’s Diederich Gallery, it’s been a labor of love knowing what the school meant to her late father.
“He was devoted to this place. He was committed to MSUM,” Magda said. “When I asked him his final wishes, he wanted to be spread around campus. So he is. He is around the art department. He’s in the art department.”
