The Magic 25: 2003, Tri-Met's Interstate Max Public Art on the Line
Tri-Met’s Public Art Program offers a sneak preview of the public art to be installed along the Interstate MAX light rail. Public Art on the Line features preliminary drawings and designs by Design Team Artists: Brian Borello, Valerie Otani and Linda Wysong, along with station artists: Wayne Chabre, Adriene Cruz, Fernanda D’Agostino, Linda Haworth, Tina Hoggatt, Ken MacKintosh, Lillian Pitt, Rick Bartow, Gail Tremblay Liz Woody and Houserworks. Each artist, both singularly and collaboratively, evoked themes in response to each of the ten sites along the northbound light rail line: Rose Quarter, Albina/Mississippi; Overlook Park; North Prescott; North Killingsworth; North Lombard; Kenton/North Denver, Vanport Bridge; Delta Park/Vanport TC and Expo Center.
From the Rose Quarter Station Brian Borello references our economic history from “Stump Town” to “The Silicon Forest” while creating a virtual forest beneath the dappled light of a green and blue disk canopy. Wayne Chabre’s musically inspired bronze sculpture re-emerges from the Albina/Mississippi station and symbolically honors the neighborhood once alive with the music of jazz. Fernanda D’Agustino at Overlook station mimics traditional roadside shrines found in Poland with imagery inspired by the healing power of light and nature. Borrello and Valerie Otani looked to the nearby shipyards for the thematic inspiration at the North Prescott station while demonstrating alternative systems to support ecological and environmental concerns. Adriene Cruz and Otani create cultural crossroads at the North Killingsworth station through use of vibrant colors and geometric designs from the cultures of India, South America and Africa. Lillian Pitt, Ken MacKintosh and Rick Bartow combine their Native American aesthetics and imagery at North Portland Boulevard station. North Lombard Transit Center and artist Linda Haworth engages themes of labor depicting tools of the trades in brilliant glass mosaic tiles.
The Kenton/North Denver Avenue station by Tina Hoggatt highlights historical images with automobiles driving alongside cattle made of metal cutouts. Nearby Paul Bunyan statue, Borrello creates seating on the hooves of the imagenary Babe, the Blue Ox. Crossing the Vanport Bridge, Houserworks, LLC reignites the 50’s inspired car culture with blazing comets racing toward Portland International Raceway. Artist Linda Wysong revisits three chapters of life at the Delta Park/Vanport Transit Center with Chinook culture, remnants of Vanport and Portland International Raceway integrated through art, design and engineering. Traditional Japanese timber gates poignantly mark the Expo Center station by Valerie Otani denoting the past site where Japanese Americans were held in 1942 while internment camps were hastily being constructed during World War II, symbolically creating passage between our past and our future.
In addition, artists Jeanne Chabre, Margaret Eclles, Mary Tapogna and Dawn Waldal crated place maps at various stations that reference cultural ties to the communities, while photographer Julie Keefe and write Judy Blankenship contributed their work to the Intersections, and oral history publication.
“For many TriMet employees who worked on the Interstate MAX light rail project, North Portland was an undiscovered territory; for the staff and artists in the art program, the heart and soul of this new land, was IFCC. The curator, Roberta Wong, was an invaluable member of our art advisory committee and the facility itself was at various times home to meetings, workshops, an exhibition, opening celebration and even the memorial service for a dear colleague.
The gallery provided the perfect venue for the Interstate MAX public art program to give the community a sneak preview of the artwork they could expect to see when the new line opened the following September. This exhibition of artists’ drawings, models and sample materials was accompanied by several artist talks that provided an opportunity for the public to meet the artists in a welcoming setting.
My best memory of IFCC, though, has to be opening day September 2004. The art program had an information table near the main entrance, facing Patton Park where TriMet was hosting a fair with music, dance and food. It was a beautiful warm day and the park was full of people celebrating not only this new transportation option, but also the spirit of community that encouraged it all to happen.”
BY Mary Priester
TriMet Public Art Manager
“The Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC) provided the Interstate Max Public Art Program (IMPAP) a place to invite, embrace and celebrate the communities along Interstate Avenue. The mission of the IFCC, giving voice to a diverse array of artists, lent itself to the commitment of IMPAP and directive to the station artists, to give voice to the history and future of the diverse communities through the artwork and art projects.
Through the partnership with the IFCC, the art program was provided a wonderful foundation to celebrate the arts and the artists in the community and create an environment where information could be shared, communities would gather, and celebrations held to inspire stories that acknowledged and represented the history of communities bound by Interstate Avenue.
The Interstate Max Public Art Program was another platform for the community, who had historically witnessed detrimental change and racial division in its neighborhoods, on which to acknowledge their apprehensions, but also give voice to their excitement of what could and should take shape.
Through its partnership with the IFCC, along with Okley Middle School, Jefferson High School, Portland Community College, the public art program embraced and invited the community to participate on many different levels, with art workshops, story telling, celebrations, and community meetings. During these sessions, there were stories shared that inspired the artwork and inspired relationships with people in the community.
The Elders reminded us of how the communities became, the youth spoke of the communities futures, friendships were rekindled, new friendships were made, tears and laughter were shed and a light rail was built, inspired by the people who have and continue to walk through the doors of the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center.”
By Stacey Drake Edwards
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