DANVERS — Local artist Pamela Learned spruced up the iron ranger at Red Rock Park in Lynn this summer with a design that echoes a bottle of Lydia Pinkham's once-popular Vegetable Compound.
An iron ranger is a 42-inch steel collection canister that was installed at the park this year to take donations to support state parks.
Red Rock Park, part of the Lynn Shore and Nahant Beach Reservation, juts out into the Atlantic Ocean on Lynn Shore Drive, about a half-mile from Swampscott.
Learned's design apes a label from one of Pinkham's concoctions, but instead of the pastel colors in the label, Learned used bright purples, yellows and greens to make the iron ranger more eye-catching. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound herbal medicine was sold as a remedy for menstrual cramps and menopause. It reached its height of popularity in the 19th and early 20th centuries, though a version is still sold today. Pinkham, who was born in Lynn and had a factory there, was also active in the anti-slavery movement.
"I wanted to do something more unique than the shoe industry," Learned said of her design. Turns out, those who go to the park were well aware of Pinkham's history, Learned found out.
"A little girl came up to me and said she had even done a school project" on Pinkham, Learned said.
"It is a welcome addition and the color scheme is excellent," said Robert Tucker, president of the Friends of Lynn and Nahant Beach, a group that aims to promote and preserve Kings and Long beaches. "It brings the local history of Lydia Pinkham into the reservation there," Tucker said.
Last year, the state chose the 38-year-old single mother of an 8-year-old girl, Rachel, to decorate the container. It then took a year for the state to install it at the park this past spring.
Learned started painting the iron ranger in July, and it took her six weeks to complete, painting twice a week in the afternoons using a special outdoor-sign paint from New York Central Art Supply.
When she is not painting iron rangers, Learned works as a copywriter for the Web site for Tim Spruill Creative, a graphic design studio in Salem. A self-described "late bloomer," she is working on her bachelor's degree in psychology at Salem State College.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or by e-mail at eforman@salemnews.com.
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