About
Portlandia is a sculpture by Raymond Kaskey located above the entrance of Michael Graves' Portland Building in downtown Portland, Oregon. It is the second-largest copper repoussé statue in the United States, after the Statue of Liberty.
Raymond Kaskey, Greg Pettengill and Michael LaSalle built sections of the statue in one of the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., and shipped the parts to Portland by rail. It was installed on October 6, 1985, after being floated up the Willamette River on a barge.
When it was installed, it was taken through the city streets, and a layer of copper was rubbed off of Portlandia's finger as people reached up to touch the statue on its way to its final destination.
The statue is based on the design of the city seal. It depicts a woman dressed in classical clothes, holding a trident in the left hand and reaching down with the right hand to greet visitors to the building. Crouched at 35 feet high, if standing, the woman would be about 50 feet tall.
Portlandia is a product of Portland's Public Art Program, dedicated to working with the public and private sectors to support art reflecting a wide range of perspectives
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This statue was closed while the surrounding building was under construction but is once again visible. In addition, Kaskey's full-scale mold for the statue and other Portlandia related items are on display across the street in the Standard Building. These are open to the public.
Published
January 10, 2012
