Live on its six-foot pedestal beside the trail. Photograph: Stephen Funk.

Live, Settle, Advance

Three sculptures designed by Christine Clark for Tigard’s Outdoor Museum. Steelwork fabricated by Western Iron Works.

Outdoor Museum · Tigard, Oregon

Artistic concept: Christine Clark Fabrication: Western Iron Works

The project

Artistic concept: Christine Clark

Year: 2020

Material: Mild steel

Fabrication: Western Iron Works

The artwork / Christine Clark

Tigard’s history in three sculptures

A mortar and pestle, a stump and axe, and a section of railroad track mark the Outdoor Museum trail.

Christine Clark uses these familiar forms to honor the people who lived on and developed the land. Each mild-steel sculpture stands on a six-foot pedestal, with smaller plants, tools and objects worked into its open framework.

Commissioned by the City of Tigard and Tualatin Valley Creates · 2020

Live

The mortar and pestle honors the Native people of the region and a tool used to prepare food. Plant and tool motifs run through the steel linework.

Look through the framework to see how the smaller forms sit within the larger bowl and pestle.

Detail of Live, showing the mortar and pestle shape and plant and tool motifs within its rust-colored steel framework. — Plant and tool motifs fill the open framework of Live. Photograph: Stephen Funk.

Settle

A stump and axe represent the pioneers and the work of logging and developing the land. Outlines of their tools fill the stump’s open sides.

Low-angle detail of Settle, showing the axe handle, curved stump framework and outlined tools. — The axe, stump and tool outlines seen from below. Photograph: Stephen Funk.

Advance

An oversized section of railroad track represents the movement of people and goods. Railroad objects appear within the framework; viewed from the side, the sculpture’s rail profile becomes clear.