Fool Hollow Lake is perhaps the White Mountain area’s most popular recreation spot with its vast cool water enclaves, towering cliff features, and campsites nestled amongst the Ponderosa Pines. Located in the heart of Show Low, the park was developed as a wildlife sanctuary to protect the animals and various species that rely on the park for habitat. The area’s natural beauty is truly breathtaking in and of itself. Now, with the help of art students from Northland Pioneer College (NPC), the park’s infrastructure is becoming just as attractive.
This fall, in partnership with NPC, Fool Hollow Lake recreation area hosted the second session of the college’s mural painting class. NPC students have painted several public spaces in the park. The fast-paced six-week class consisted of covering two large rectangular exterior ramada walls with artwork tied to the park’s natural flora, fauna, and history. Students were tasked with designing individual pieces and worked together to bring the concepts to life in puzzle piece mosaics customized for the large canvases. NPC Art Faculty Magda Gluszek and Peterson Yazzie led the class in consultation with Fool Hollow Park Assistant Manager Fran Frei.
The murals at the Bluebird and Raven Ramadas now showcase the student’s murals. They are adorned with artwork that hints at both the bright, sunny experience of the park on a mid-summer day and the quiet, moody solitude of the lake at night.
“It was important that the murals told a story of the park,” explained Gluszek. And for those in this year’s class, one particular story took root. The legend of the “Blue Lady” or the “Lady of the Lake.”
Long before it was a lake, twelve families struggled to make a new life in the hollow. In the mid-1800s, the settlement of Adair, named after its founder, Mormon pioneer Thomas Jefferson Adair, sprouted in what is now the 150-acre lake and over 650-acre recreation area. Impulsively thinking the soil in the empty hollow would be ripe for crops, Adair and his namesake settlement were met with doom. The earth in the stark, treeless hollow contained a mixture of salt and sand and bore no vegetation. Due to the low topography, the area was also prone to harsh and early freezes. Ravaged by plague and hunger, Adair was eventually abandoned in 1906. In 1994, Show Low Creek was dammed, and the structures that once made up the town now lie under 23 feet of water and have been aptly named Fool Hollow Lake.
As legend has it, although the settlers of the area left long ago, the lost soul of a young woman remains. The ethereal spirit is said to be surrounded by a shroud of blue light, dressed head to toe in blue, and hovers inches above the dark waters late at night as if in search of her resting spot, the untimely grave.
“We talked about the history of the area, the town, the blue lady, and did our research before going into the project,” said NPC student Ryan Ramsay. “It’s been a fun experience to tell the stories of the area through the art. The lake has a rich and interesting history.” One of Ramsay’s contributions to the murals is a striking piece featuring a pioneer’s home in the sunlit hollow, barren of any vegetation, surrounded by a richly tree-lined vista.
Cassie Peterson, another NPC student and participant in the mural class, has a rich family heritage in the area. Her ancestors were homesteaders and, at one time, are said to have lived in the hollow. They eventually moved the family to higher land in Show Low. “My great-grandmother was married in a blue dress,” Peterson said. “So, who knows, maybe she’s the blue lady,” she laughed.
This was the first mural class NPC student Elley Wixted has ever taken. She said, “It is neat to be working on art in a public space and to have this opportunity. It’s been unbelievable to work in the park outdoors and alongside these incredible artists,” she said. “We have all contributed in our own way.” Wixted worked on a Van Gough-like rendition of the spirit of The Blue Lady for her art contribution.
“When they told us there was a ghost, I was all in,” said NPC art student Jennafer Gale, who also painted a rendition of the haunted Lady of the Lake. “I’m loving it. I love ghost stories and spooky stuff,” she said. “I’m an art kid, and getting to do something public is cool.” Gale is an avid artist and has created many personal pieces, including a mural on her sister’s yard wall. But for this project, she said, “People are going to get to see this. That makes it special.”
Gluszek said, “Working with Fran and the park has been amazing. We are lucky to be able to do this. The students dove into the work and created pieces that truly speak to the park’s history, flora, and fauna,” she said. As a result of the partnership between NPC and the Fool Hollow Recreation area, the park now features eight murals created by NPC art students over the 2023 and 2024 fall sessions.
Gluszek and Peterson teach year-round in NPC’s art department and offer a variety of classes for both beginners and those with prior art experience. For more information about the mural painting course or any other art classes offered by NPC, contact Art Faculty Magda Gluszek at magda.gluszek@npc.edu or Peterson Yazzie at peterson.yazzie@npc.edu.
