Patience and Perseverance paid off for Fred Puksta
News Leader

For artist/ designer Fred Puksta, patience and perseverance was the mantra for many years.
Since 1989, Puksta sought a way to fabricate his sculptural clock project for the Christa McAulliffe Planetarium in Concord.
The Planetarium is New Hampshire's official memorial to Christa McAulliffe. the Concord social studies teacher who served as America's first -Teacher in Space."
Since its completion in June of 1990, the Christa McAulliffe Planetarium has been an international showcase attracting more than 110,000 visitors annually from every state in the union and more than 25 foreign countries.
In addition to its main goal of education the Planetarium has a goal to exhibit, on both a permanent and temporary basis, original works of art and craftsmanship by New Hampshire and New England artists and artisans. The official NASA portrait of McAulliffe now hangs in the Planetarium lobby as well as other numerous original works of art on a loan basis.
In 1989, while the Planetarium was under construction, the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts conducted a "Percent for Art" program to acquire site specific artwork for the Planetarium. More than 40 artists statewide were originally briefed on the project with 26 artists submitting proposals. A small group of finalists were then selected by the Art Selection and Site Advisory Committees. Puksta was among those few finalists.

Three Proposals Accepted
But because of limited funds, only three artists' proposals were accepted. Through a Conversation with the, then, Planetarium director, Stuart Wallace, Puksta learned that the director felt that Puksta's project was "significant" and thought it would have been a worthy addition to the Planetarium's environment. Puksta asked Wallace if he could find funding for the project at no expense to the Planetarium's fragile operating budget, would Wallace and the Planetarium accept the artwork.
Wallace and the Planetarium said "yes", and Puks

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