Interlocking Forms

Interlocking Forms - by Don Wilson, 1977

These reddish plywood boxes hold Interlocking Forms, 1977, by Don Wilson. It’s a fairly immovable sculpture set in front of the Portland Building on SW 6th Avenue, and it’s been there since about 1977.

As the sculptures begin to return to the Transit Mall after a couple of years in storage, it’s a good time to revisit these works and figure out if they have relevance in our current century.

I appreciate they left breathing holes.

 

Two Copper Pennies for a Big Bronze Bust

Dr. John McLoughlin by Adrian Voisin, 1933

At the 99 E turnout at Willamette Falls in Oregon City is this bronze bust of Dr. John McLoughlin, chief factor, or superintendent of the British Hudson’s Bay Company which he founded at Ft. Vancouver in 1824.

The bust is by Adrian Voisin, a popular sculptor whose work was often seen in corporate board rooms in the 1930s and 1940s, and who died, I think in San Francisco, in 1979. The only other Voisin I know of in the area available to the public is at Jefferson High School in North Portland. They have two – a bust of Hopkin Jenkins, a longtime principal of the school, and a commemorative bas-relief in bronze of the journey of Lewis and Clark.

The sculpture is both in a terrible location and is badly damaged by the weather. Tourists stop to look at the falls and look at their maps, but the bust, which looks out onto the steam-belching paper mill, is easily missed. Driving, blink and you miss it.

Bronze develops a green patina when exposed to the air. The McLoughlin bust has, as you can see, gray, black and brown corrosion. The bust sits on a roughly sculpted boulder. The level eye line with the sculpture is about eight feet high, so the best view of the sculpture is standing on the cliff barrier (drop is only about 70 feet). With the advanced damage, and location, it’s hard to look at from any angle.

MAP – See a the location of this artwork

From a 2004 Oregon City Commission report –

The bust of Dr. John McLoughlin was a gift from the Oregon Congress of Parents and Teachers to the State of Oregon commemorating the deeds of its founder, Dr. John McLoughlin. It was dedicated on June 8, 1941 at its location in Oregon City. The bronze bust was mounted on a natural stone block and placed between the (Pacific) highway and Willamette River at the Falls Vista overlook. The bust of Dr. McLoughlin was sculpted by American artist Adrian Alexander Voisin who completed it in 1933 at a cost of $2,000.

For six years the Oregon Congress of Parents and Teachers (PTA) worked through it organizations with parents, teachers and children, using the slogan “Two Copper Pennies for a Big Bronze Bust” to raise the money for the statue. Parochial, public and private schools responded along with children’s organizations and PTA groups to contribute to this noble gift. Original plans called for placing the bust in the garden of the McLoughlin house but following its renovation in the late 1930’s, the McLoughlin Memorial Association suggested it be placed overlooking the Willamette River and Falls, as Dr. McLoughlin cherished it so much that even upon his death bed he asked to be carried to the window to “see the setting sun’s reflection upon the waters of the river.” The State Highway Commission, acting upon the suggestion of chairman, Mr. Henry F. Cabell, purchased the property upon which the statue now stands overlooking the Willamette Falls.

EXTRA – John McLoughlin, father of Oregon
EXTRA – John McLoughlin, from Wikipedia

 

Presented Without Comment 4

Tom Hardy = Herons

Tom Hardy – Herons. Located at the Harwell House on Sauvie Island.

 

Presented Without Comment 2

Port/Land by Don Merkt, 1998. Portland City Hall.

 

Presented Without Comment 1

For the next ten days I’ll show you some truly puzzling public artwork – without comment. What was that saying your grandmother used to tell you?

Stage Set: An Event Sculpture by Dennis Oppenheim (2001). For the Expo Center. Funded by Metropolitan Exposition and Recreation Commission (MERC) and managed by RACC.

 

Oregonian Photos Online

Battleship Oregon Statue

From the Oregonian Flickr collection, originally published On September 30, 1941.

Thanks to a anon poster on Oregon Media Insiders, my attention’s drawn to the Oregonian photo sets on Flickr.

The city Monday was asked to move the Skidmore fountain form S.W. 1st Ave. and Ankeny St. to the Battleship Oregon Marine park and “do away” with the statue now in the park. E.C. Sammons, chairman of the Battleship Oregon Memorial fund campaign committee, made the request. Theodore Roosevelt memorial stood watch over Battleship Oregon for more than two years, then disappeared.

Hi Bud! Opening Day pitch in 1985 or so.

Thousands more (mostly recent tho) at http://www.flickr.com/photos/theoregonian/sets/

EXTRA SPECIAL – Audrey McCall Collection

 

Downtown art holes up during Transit Mall work

from the Portland Tribune, July 15 2008

TriMet plans to move some of the pieces around once construction is completed

Renovation of the downtown Transit Mall prompts a parade of questions from many Portlanders: Which streets will be closed today? Who is paying for all of this? When will the downtown traffic nightmare end?

Others may wonder what’s happened to the 12 works of public art that lined the streets before the construction started. They include “Cat in Repose” by Kathleen McCollough, a favorite with children, and “Kvinneakt,” the nude sculpture made famous by a pre-Mayor Bud Clark in the widely circulated “Expose Yourself to Art” poster.

Mary Priester, TriMet’s public art manager, said the existing public art sculptures have been temporarily removed during construction, but will return when the work is completed next year.

“The artwork will be coming back to the area after some of the construction is finished,” Priester said.

But not necessarily to their original locations. Instead, some of the sculptures will be relocated at sites TriMet believes will provide the best public viewing.

Before they return, the art will be cleaned and refurbished. But just where the sculptures are currently being stored is a secret.

The removals were necessary because of the extensive work needed to run a new light-rail line along Southwest Fifth and Sixth avenues from Union Station to Portland State University. In some places, the sidewalks where certain works sat have been narrowed.

Security concerns kept Priester from revealing where the art was being stored, and the Regional Arts and Culture Council – the Portland-Multnomah County agency, which is responsible for the temporary storage – also was tightlipped about the location.

Kristin Calhoun, RACC’s public art manager, said the art would be on display again downtown in the fall.

“We’ve been through a pretty long process of deciding where the art will be returned,” she said. “A lot of it won’t be in the same location that it was removed from, but we are trying to find the best area where it will live for the next 30 years or so.”

New spots for art

New public art will also be introduced next spring, closer to the mall’s proposed completion of September 2009.

About $750,000 of the project’s funding has been allocated to the Mall art program, which will feature about 25 new pieces. The sculptures will be distributed among the north, central and south areas of the mall.

“We have a lot going on,” Priester said. “We have three separate programs relating to the different parts of the mall. The North Mall is more historic, the Central Mall sculptures will focus on the Northwest and the South Mall by Portland State University will have an emphasis on education and sustainability.”

One piece is already back. “Driver’s Seat” by Don Merkt was simply moved from the east side of Northwest Fifth Avenue at Irving Street to the west side.

There are two pieces that will not be returning to the transit mall area, however. “Tri-Met,” by Robert Maki, will be reinstalled at Standard Plaza on Southwest Fifth Avenue between Madison and Main streets, without its water feature.

And due to space constraints, the privately owned “Soaring Stones” by John Young that was on the west side of Pioneer Place will be returned to its owner.

 

Vic Atiyeh @ PDX

We found a lonely former governor Victor Atiyeh (1979-1986) patiently waiting for a commuter flight at the Portland International Airport’s Governor Victor G. Atiyeh International Concourse.

Several barriers to viewing this artwork. It’s inside of concourse C, so only ticket buyers and airport employees can see the artwork; and there were no scheduled flights for that section of the concourse, so unless you’re wandering beyond your ticket counter the sculpture is easy to miss or overlook. Finally, it’s mundanity, it’s general ordinariness is disconcerting.

Full size bronze by Bill Bane, the sculpture was commissioned by his business partners and is adjoined by a small presentation of Atiyeh’s achievements.

EXTRA – Bill Bane – Vera Katz – unimpressive sculpture
EXTRA – Bill Bane – Upon Landing in Vancouver