Milky Way sculpture to be in installed at Mt. Washington Drive and Shevlin Park Road. A 28 foot stainless steel sculpture base with a top of intricate laser cut latticework that glows at night will be installed this week at the roundabout at Mt. Washington Drive and Shevlin Park Road. The artwork is inspired by the joy residents and visitors experience while admiring the night sky in and around Bend.
The design features a graceful S-curve rendered in a detailed and intricate latticework of laser cut stainless steel that is painted white. At night, the form will glow with colored light, illuminated by LED lighting that is powered by solar energy. Oregon artist Devin Laurence Field was in Bend this week to install the new sculpture.
“I have chosen the Milky Way as a theme because it symbolizes one of the deepest and oldest connections we have with the earth, and it is one of the things that keep bringing me back to Bend,” says Field. The glow of the lights at night is meant to evoke the beauty of the galaxies and nebulae that astronomers see through telescopes. Unique to other roundabout sculptures in Bend, this sculpture was designed to be appreciated 24 hours a day with its solar energized glow.
“A large part of the funding for this sculpture was donated by friends and family of long time resident and city activist, Linda Moore, who passed away in December 2012. The work of art was designed in honor of Linda,” expressed Sue Hollern, President of Art in Public Places.
The sculpture by Field was selected by the Art in Public Places Committee after a public input process in 2012. Models by the three finalists were on display at the Deschutes Public Library for two weeks last winter.
Funding for the public art is coming from Art in Public Places, a non-profit organization that provides art to various locations throughout the City of Bend. The Bend Foundation, a non-profit founded and funded by Brooks Scanlon, Brooks Resources Corporation and its shareholders, awarded a $500,000 matching grant to Art In Public Places for the purchase and installation of public art in the Bend city limits by the end of December, 2014. Generous donations from the public raised over $500,000, resulting in the matching grant which will provide over $1 million for public art by the end of 2014.
