Cascade Leaf
> Commissioned for Barber Library at Central Oregon Community College, Bend, Oregon
Located at 2600 NW College Way, Bend, Oegon
Cascade Leaf was designed to reflect the contemplative, intimate character of the site as well as reference local history, geography and nature. Made of weathering steel, copper, bronze and glass, the sculpture measures over 17 feet tall and weighs about 3,000 pounds. Weathering steel, or Cor-Ten steel, is a high-strength low-alloy steel that creates its own protective coating as it oxidizes to a rich red-brown.
The sculpture's upper portion is an outline of a stone age Cascade Leaf projectile point found in the area. The vertical leaf-shaped or feather-shaped form is made from three-quarter-inch plate with a shallow side-to-side curve. The surface is cut with images of regional birds in flight, and abstract landscape images. Sixteen species of birds are represented, including a Clark's Nutcracker, named for explorer William Clark, and Oregon Juncos, a sub-species of the Dark-eyed Junco.
The lower pedestal area of the sculpture contains a one-inch thick piece of glass that slices through the center of a six-sided form. This four-foot-long section is connected at base and top to cylinder forms. The lower, base cylinder balances a cast-bronze Ponderosa pine cone on its top edge. The upper cylinder supports two smaller rolled forms at the base of the leaf shape. Blue-green patinated copper elements frame the glass; a folded form zig-zags through part of the leaf form. Also attached is a bronze identification plaque and a cast-bronze Northern Pygmy-Owl.
While many of the images of Cascade Leaf are representational, there also are abstract or non-specific elements. The viewer is invited to contemplate these on a personal level. The sculpture is also intended as simply a visual experience of color, form, light and shadow.
Cascade Leaf, 1999
weathering steel, bronze, copper and glass
17'6" H x 44" W x 18" D
> Campus art tour page for Cascade Leaf
Located at 2600 NW College Way, Bend, Oegon
Cascade Leaf was designed to reflect the contemplative, intimate character of the site as well as reference local history, geography and nature. Made of weathering steel, copper, bronze and glass, the sculpture measures over 17 feet tall and weighs about 3,000 pounds. Weathering steel, or Cor-Ten steel, is a high-strength low-alloy steel that creates its own protective coating as it oxidizes to a rich red-brown.
The sculpture's upper portion is an outline of a stone age Cascade Leaf projectile point found in the area. The vertical leaf-shaped or feather-shaped form is made from three-quarter-inch plate with a shallow side-to-side curve. The surface is cut with images of regional birds in flight, and abstract landscape images. Sixteen species of birds are represented, including a Clark's Nutcracker, named for explorer William Clark, and Oregon Juncos, a sub-species of the Dark-eyed Junco.
The lower pedestal area of the sculpture contains a one-inch thick piece of glass that slices through the center of a six-sided form. This four-foot-long section is connected at base and top to cylinder forms. The lower, base cylinder balances a cast-bronze Ponderosa pine cone on its top edge. The upper cylinder supports two smaller rolled forms at the base of the leaf shape. Blue-green patinated copper elements frame the glass; a folded form zig-zags through part of the leaf form. Also attached is a bronze identification plaque and a cast-bronze Northern Pygmy-Owl.
While many of the images of Cascade Leaf are representational, there also are abstract or non-specific elements. The viewer is invited to contemplate these on a personal level. The sculpture is also intended as simply a visual experience of color, form, light and shadow.
Cascade Leaf, 1999
weathering steel, bronze, copper and glass
17'6" H x 44" W x 18" D
> Campus art tour page for Cascade Leaf