RIGGA in Collaboration with Mayer/Reedd
April 04, 2008
Materials
Materials of the public art pieces include steel, cast bronze, copper sheet, stainless steel, laminated art glass, blown glass and metal halide lighting.
The Artist/Landscape Architecture Team
The public art installation for the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade was created by RIGGA, a Portland, Oregon-based group of artists and architects. Members of RIGGA included Ean Eldred, Richard Garfield, James Harrison, John Kashiwabara and Peter Nylen. Their alliance was extremely eclectic and encompassed many projects outside of art installations including architecture, furniture design and lighting fabrication. The public art was coordinated by Mayer/Reed, the landscape architecture and environmental graphics firm that designed the 1.5 mile long Eastbank Esplanade. The landscape architects worked closely with RIGGA to discuss the concepts of the art project, determine the locations of the pieces and work out construction details. The Eastbank Esplanade has won national awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects and The Waterfront Center. It was featured in the August 2006 issue of International New Landscape.
Trail Experience
The Eastbank Esplanade is a section of a 3-mile pedestrian and bicycle loop that extends around the Willamette River in downtown Portland. This popular trail provides Portlanders with a new commuter route and recreation amenity in the central city. The connection utilizes four bridges to provide access from many neighborhoods to the downtown area.
The trail's proximity to the river creates an opportunity for a special awareness of the river and its role in the history of Portland. Along with interpretive panels that illustrate a number of topics from transportation and marine traditions to current issues of salmon habitat recovery, the public art project further enriches the sense of discovery along the trail.
Public Art Installation
Sited on the trail's edge between a freeway and the Willamette River, four Eastbank Esplanade sculptures describe the blurred boundaries between the natural and human-made aspects of the river's edge. RIGGA created a series of "sculptural knots" reflecting the site's intertwined urban and natural histories.
From South, to North, the first of the installations, The Echo Gate, is oriented to both the pathway and the river. A sculptural hybrid echoing past pier buildings and marine barnacles, it is both crenellation and crustacean. The sculpture suggests bending an ear to the river amidst the rushing noise of the nearby freeway. The Ghost Ship recalls Portland's maritime history. It is a sculptural ghost illuminated from within, eroding its edges with light; a beacon from the past marking the river's shifting edge.
The Stack Stalk pays homage to the port as a meeting point between Oregon's agriculture and ocean bound ships. Blending a stalk of barley with a smoke stack, it suspends a Japanese glass float as a reminder of the river's connection to the Pacific Ocean.
The Alluvial Wall alludes to the interwoven layers of the river's sediment, both natural and industrial. The undulating structure evokes both the ribs of a ship hull and geologic strata. The sculpture is backlit, with deposits of cultural artifacts to be found among its layers.