Paul Fjelde began his study of art in Valley City at the State Normal School under Miss Mary G. Deem who arranged for his entry in to the studio of Larado Faft in Chicago. Later studies took him to New York, Copenhagen, and Paris. Fjelde's first significant commission was a bust of Abraham Lincoln given to Norway from the people of North Dakota in 1914. The plaster bust resides in Allen Memorial Library, VCSC. The sculptor has many other works to his credit including a bronze bas-relief of Dr. George McFarland, President of the State Normal School, which is displayed in the Soroos-Bruhn Alumni Center in McFarland Hall; a portrait bust of Charles Lindbergh now installed in the air terminal at Lindbergh Field in San Diego; and the Walt Whitman medal commemorating the centennial of LEAVES OF GRASS.