Client: Portland State University & Walsh Construction

Overview

This piece is 8' tall and wind-activated, and made of fabricated bronze. It sits atop a newly made addition of a new student housing project for Portland State University in downtown Portland, OR. The piece is designed to present its side of least resistance into the wind.

Goals

Walsh Construction Co. has a history of contributing a piece of art, at their expense, on many of the projects they get involved in. This piece is highly visible to all the students walking to their classes, as well as to all the street traffic.

Process

As the artist, I am also the designer. I was working in collaboration with the arts commitee of Portland State University plus the contractors, Walsh Construction Co. who built this one block square student housing project, some of which is 22 stories high.

Additional Information

This piece is in honor of a phenomena which happens, every year, in N.W. Portland, in Sept., as chimney swifts migrate South for the Winter and stop in Portland for a sleep-over in a very tall chimney. The birds collect and circle and circle around the chimney and finally, around sunset spiral down into the chimney. Hundreds and hundreds of parents and children bring their picnic dinners and gather to witness this beauful dance.