March 3, 2006

I-205 Light Rail Station artists selected

Seven NW artists have been selected to create artwork for the future I-205 Light Rail Project. The I-205 extension is part of the 8.3-mile I-205/Portland Mall Light Rail project that will, for the first time, expand light rail into Clackamas County. The project will add 8 stations between the Gateway Transit Center and Clackamas Town Center.

The Public Art Advisory Committee has adopted the theme "Signposts, Symbols and Settlement Stories." Signposts or landmarks orient travelers to the stations at the edges of neighborhoods; symbols can convey the unique character of the neighborhoods and evoke community pride; and real-life settlement stories echo the voices of each neighborhood in a dialogue between past, present and future. The artists were chosen on the basis of past experience with public art projects and the quality of their work.

• Anne Storrs, of SE Portland, was selected to create artwork for the SE Main Street station. She makes cast-concrete sculpture inspired by close observation of the natural world.
• Carolyn Law of Seattle, will focus on "placemaking" at the SE Division Street station.
• Portland artists, Valerie Otani and Suzanne Lee, will produce art for the stations at SE Powell and SE Holgate boulevards respectively. Otani was a design team artist for Westside and Interstate MAX and Lee is an experienced artist and art educator.
• The artist for the stations at SE Foster Road and SE Flavel Street will be Brian Borrello of Portland. Borrello was a design team artist for Interstate MAX and brings an interest in sustainable technology and community activism to his work.
• Pete Beeman, a Portland artist whose work is often interactive, was chosen to work on the light rail station at SE Fuller Road.
• The artist at the Clackamas Town Center Transit Station will be Richard C. Elliott from Ellensburg, Washington, who is inspired by culturally based geometric patterns.

About I-205/Portland Mall Light Rail:

This project will add light rail between the Gateway Transit Center and Clackamas Town Center, and on 5th and 6th avenues between Union Station and Portland State University in downtown Portland.

The project is a partnership between the City of Portland, Clackamas County, ODOT, TriMet and Metro. Construction is planned to begin in mid-January 2007 and open in September 2009.