| Artist | Raymond Kaskey |
|---|---|
| Year | 1985 |
| Type | Copper repoussé |
| Dimensions | 10.62 m (34 ft 10 in) |
| Location | Portland, Oregon, United States |
Portlandia is a sculpture by Raymond Kaskey located above the entrance of Michael Graves' Portland Building in downtown Portland, Oregon, at 1120 SW 5th Avenue. It is the second-largest copper repoussé statue in the United States, after the Statue of Liberty.[1]
Raymond Kaskey, Greg Pettengill[2] 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 assembled at a barge building facility, Gunderson, Inc. It was installed on October 6, 1985,[3] after being floated up the Willamette River on a barge.[4]
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.
The statue itself is 34 feet, 10 inches (10.6 meters) high.[3] If standing, the woman would be about 50 feet (15 m) tall. An accompanying plaque contains a poem by Portland resident Ronald Talney.
The statue is above street level, and faces a narrow, tree-lined street with limited automobile access. Occasionally, there are suggestions to move the statue to a more visible location, but these have come to nothing and the sculptor states that he designed the statue for its location and would not approve of moving it.
It has also been claimed that Portlandia's relatively low profile results from sculptor Kaskey's close guarding of his intellectual property. Unlike the Statue of Liberty, Portlandia may not be reproduced for any commercial purpose without permission from the artist. The rights to the image of Portlandia remain Kaskey's sole property.[5] The Regional Arts & Culture Council maintains the statue.
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 .[6]