A new sculpture was added to Bend’s public art collection earlier this week at the Colorado Avenue & Columbia Street Roundabout. The sculpture titled Crossroads is made of Corten and stainless steel by artist Karen Yank from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“Crossroads serves as a monument to the innovative individuals that transformed Bend from a historic lumber-mill town into the enchanting artistic and cultural place one can live in and visit today,” Karen Yank said. “My design embraces Bend’s history in the timber industry with a set of crossing logs, which create a beautiful waterfall along the rocky cliffs of the Deschutes River.”
The sculpture was selected by the Art in Public Places (AIPP) Committee and a representative from the City of Bend’s engineering department after a public input process (online and in-person) where the design renderings were on display on the Art in Public Places website and at the Downtown Public Library and the Larkspur Community Center in Spring 2023.
“Karen’s sculpture is a lovely addition to the City’s roundabout art collection and represents important icons of Bend; the historic mills and the beloved Deschutes River,” said Romy Mortensen, Art in Public Places President.
The Colorado and Columbia roundabout opened in August 2021 and is a high-traffic route providing direct access to the OSU-Cascades campus, Mt. Bachelor ski resort, Century Drive/14th Street (shops and restaurants), The Pavilion (Bend Park & Recreation District ice skating rink), and the Old Mill District. Approximately 15,000 cars pass through this area daily.
The artist will also have a gallery show at Peterson Contemporary Art (PCA) on Franklin Avenue in downtown Bend where her smaller-scale works of art will be on view through July 29. The gallery will host an opening reception and an artist talk on Friday, July 19 between 5-7 p.m.
The sculpture will be included in the public art collection for the City of Bend.
Funding for public art in Bend is from the Bend Foundation, a non-profit founded and funded by Brooks Scanlon and Brooks Resources Corporation and its shareholders, and numerous community donations. Art in Public Places is a non-profit organization that gifts art to various locations throughout the City of Bend.
For more information, visit artinpublicplaces.org.
