''Ideals'' is an outdoor 1992

bronze sculpture Bronze is the most popular metal for Casting (metalworking), cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as w ...

by Muriel Castanis, located outside the Portland State Office Building in northeast

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

Description and history

''Ideals'' was commissioned in 1991 as part of the One Percent for Art in State Buildings Collection. It was completed by Castanis in February 1992 and installed at the northwest exterior corner of the Portland State Office Building (800 Northeast Oregon Street) in the

Lloyd District The Lloyd District is a primarily commercial neighborhood in the North and Northeast sections of Portland, Oregon. It is named after Ralph Lloyd (1875–1953), a California rancher, oilman, and real estate developer who moved to and started t ...

. The

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

with green patina sculpture measures approximately x x . It rests on an aggregate base which has a diameter of approximately and weighs 850 lbs. The

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

categorizes the work as abstract and

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

("hope") and describes it as a "standing female-like figure in the form of a hooded drapery garment with no visible figure inside". The Public Art Archives describes the sculpture as an "illusion of a human female form, defined by the draping and gathering of cloth rather than the positive space of the form herself". The figure is illuminated by four footlights in the base and its proper left arm is raised. The piece was surveyed and considered "well maintained" by Smithsonian's "

Save Outdoor Sculpture! Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) was a community-based effort to identify, document, and conserve outdoor sculpture in the United States. The program was initiated in 1989 and ended in 1999. History Save Outdoor Sculpture! was initiated by Herit ...

" program in 1993. ''Ideals'' is administered by the State of Oregon's Arts Commission.

References

External links

Portland Cultural Tours: Public Art Waking Tour
(pg. 2, PDF),

Regional Arts & Culture Council The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) is an organization that administers arts grants in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas Counties that also do advocacy in the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon, United States. It evolved from the city� ...

{{Public art in Portland, Oregon 1992 establishments in Oregon 1992 sculptures Abstract sculptures in Oregon Allegorical sculptures in Oregon Bronze sculptures in Oregon Lloyd District, Portland, Oregon Northeast Portland, Oregon Outdoor sculptures in Portland, Oregon Sculptures of women in Oregon Statues in Portland, Oregon

Description and history

See also

References

External links