Peace Chant is an outdoor 1984 granite memorial sculpture by Steve Gillman, located at Southwest Park Avenue and Southwest Columbia Street in the South Park Blocks of Portland, Oregon.
| Peace Chant | |
|---|---|
 The sculpture in 2016 | |
 | |
| Artist | Steve Gillman |
| Year | 1984 |
| Type | Sculpture |
| Medium | Granite |
| Location | Portland, Oregon, United States |
| 45°30′55″N 122°40′59″W / 45.51535°N 122.683189°W | |
Description and history
edit
Funded by the National Park Service and the City of Portland's Housing and Community Development department, it is the first known peace memorial in the state. Gillman intended for the sculpture to "create a space where people could sit and have quiet time" and wanted to "express his own advocacy for peace as well as that of the nearby churches".[1][2]
The installation is composed of three large pillars.[2] Displayed with the sculpture is a poem chosen by Gillam:
Let us be "Called...by the hopes of children
to a world of endless wheat and barley sugar...
whatever--the skies now lifted
and the poppies bloomed
and the men and women fed the children
and the long long lives of elders
kept the history green."
The Smithsonian Institution categorizes Peace Chant as both abstract and allegorical ("peace").[3] In May 1985, City Council named the block on which the sculpture is installed Peace Plaza.[2]
See also
edit- 1984 in art
- From Within Shalom (1984), another Portland sculpture by Gillman
References
edit- ^ "Public Art Search: Peace Chant". Regional Arts & Culture Council. Archived from the original on October 27, 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
- ^ a b c "South Park Blocks". Portland Parks & Recreation. Archived from the original on October 27, 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
- ^ "Peace Chant, (sculpture)". Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on October 27, 2014. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
External links
edit- Peace Chant at the Public Art Archive
- Peace Chant (1984), Portland, Oregon at Waymarking
