''Sculpture Stage'' is an outdoor 1976
stainless steel
Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...
sculpture by
Bruce West, located in
Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park is a park located in downtown Portland, Oregon, along the Willamette River. After the 1974 removal of Harbor Drive, a major milestone in the freeway removal movement, the park was opened to the public in 19 ...
in
downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
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 ...
. The work was funded by the
Comprehensive Employment and Training Act
The Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA, ) was a United States federal law enacted by the Congress, and signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973 to train workers and provide them with jobs in the public service. ...
and is part of the City of Portland and Multnomah County Public Art Collection courtesy of the
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†...
.
Description and history
''Sculpture Stage'' is a 1976 welded
stainless steel
Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...
sculpture by Bruce West, with assistance from poet Tom Culberton, artist Jeff Tolbert and Hugh Mitchell, the landscape architect of Tom McCall Waterfront Park's Riverfront Plaza. It is located at the intersection of Southwest Ankeny and Southwest
Naito Parkway
Naito Parkway is a major thoroughfare of Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was formerly known as Front Avenue and Front Street and was renamed in 1996 to honor Bill Naito. It runs between SW Barbur Boulevard and NW Front Avenue, and adjac ...
, just south of the
Burnside Bridge
The Burnside Bridge is a 1926-built bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, carrying Burnside Street. It is the second bridge at the same site to carry that name. It was added to the National Register of ...
. The piece was commissioned for $28,000 by the Portland Development Commission, with funds from the
Comprehensive Employment and Training Act
The Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA, ) was a United States federal law enacted by the Congress, and signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 28, 1973 to train workers and provide them with jobs in the public service. ...
. It is approximately 11 feet, 7 inches tall x 63 feet wide and was designed to cover the
Ankeny pumping station and serve a backdrop for a stage. 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 sculpture as
abstract and describes it as a "curved relief in six sections with horizontal lines suggesting a landscape, and may be used as a backdrop for a stage".
The work 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 April 1993. At that time, it was administered by the City of Portland's Development Commission.
[ Presently, the work is part of the City of Portland and Multnomah County Public Art Collection courtesy of the ]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†...
.
See also
* 1976 in art
* ''Untitled'' (West) (1977), another Portland sculpture by Bruce West
References
External links
''Sculpture Stage''
at Public Art Archive
{{Tom McCall Waterfront Park
1976 establishments in Oregon
1976 sculptures
Abstract sculptures in Oregon
Old Town Chinatown
Outdoor sculptures in Portland, Oregon
Southwest Portland, Oregon
Stainless steel sculptures in Oregon
Tom McCall Waterfront Park