Cod is a sculpture carved in Maine granite in 2006 by Steve Lindsay of St. George, Maine. The cod was once one of Maine’s most valuable resources, bringing early fishermen to the region by sail. Lindsay is a carver of both wood and granite and has completed numerous large scale Percent for Art pieces in… Read more »
Shorebird
Shorebird is a cast bronze sculpture by Edwin Gamble and is one of his classic abstract birds. Gamble was an avid birdwatcher who lived in Brunswick, Maine. His love of birds led him to abstract them to their most essential forms. His sculpture is in both the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, Maine and the Portland… Read more »
Balance
Balance, by Roy Patterson is a sculpture carved in 2005. The material is black basalt from Maine — more specifically from Jesse Salisbury’s basalt quarry in Steuben. It was first exhibited in the International Sculpture Exhibition at the Coral Springs Museum of Art in Florida, where Patterson was an artist-in-residence during January and February of… Read more »
Hawk
Hawk is a graceful carved wooden bird with up‐stretched wings by one of Maine’s most respected sculptors, Cabot Lyford. This gently abstracted piece has a deep rich wood patina, and shows Lyford’s great feel for the subtle bends of animals’ bodies. Cabot taught art for over thirty years at Philips Exeter Academy and retired to… Read more »
Split Bench
Split Bench, by Jesse Salisbury, is a deceivingly simple form. The goal was to provide multiple seating areas for several people and to further explore the relationship of curves split from a single block. The original block was a six-ton block of Sullivan grey granite eight feet long, four feet wide and three feet thick…. Read more »
Beach Pea Bench
The Beach Pea Bench, by Jesse Salisbury, was split and peeled away from an eight-ton natural-faced slab of Jonesborough granite stone form using hand-forged steel chisels and wedges. The rest of the eight-ton stone was used to make the accompanying sculpture, Beach Pea. Salisbury was very conscious of the relationships between positive and negative forms… Read more »
Beach Pea
Beach Pea, a sculpture by Jesse Salisbury, is a still life of geological movement split and shaped from one eight-ton natural-faced slab of Jonesborough granite. The seed shaped form was split into curves and internal blocks using hand-forged steel chisels and wedges. Mindful of the relationships between positive and negative forms, the blocks were carved… Read more »
Boothby Square Watering Trough
Frederic E. Boothby, Portland Mayor from 1901-1903, installed a watering trough at one end of Boothby Square Park in 1902 to commemorate the philanthropic work of his wife, Adelaide. Water was in constant need, and public watering troughs were established and used by both “Man and Beast.” The watering trough at Boothby Square was used… Read more »
Obelisk Memorial to George Cleeves
The first public monument sited in Portland is the Cleeves and Tucker Memorial, erected in 1883 and situated at the end of Congress Street and Eastern Promenade. This obelisk, designed by William Goodwin, an engineer in Frederick Law Olmstead’s firm, was intended to provide an aesthetic foreground for viewing Casco Bay. It was donated to… Read more »
Fireman Statue
The Fireman Statue, carved out of white granite from North Jay, Maine, was designed and created by Edward Souther Griffin in 1898. Installed on the Western Promenade at the head of West Street in 1898, and moved around 1902 to the Fireman’s Relief Association lot in Evergreen Cemetery, it finally landed at the Central Fire… Read more »
The Circle of Life
The Circle of Life, a sculpture by Maine artist Carole Hanson, was conceived as an expression of beauty, of the spirit of Deering Oaks Park and of human endeavor. It commemorates the life of Kay Wagenknecht-Harte, her own quest for beauty and order, and her love for the City of Portland. Kay was Portland’s beloved… Read more »
Stanley Pullen Fountain
The Stanley Pullen Fountain was installed in 1910 as a horse trough and fountain on what was then the busy thoroughfare of Federal Street. The granite fountain, designed by George Burnham of Portland, and executed by the New Hampshire Granite Company, was named in honor of local lawyer, politician, and onetime editor of the Portland… Read more »
The Hiker, Spanish War Memorial
The Hiker is a Spanish War Memorial statue in Deering Oaks Park, designed in 1906 by Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson and placed in the Oaks in May 1924, likely by the United States War Veterans (USWV). The statue commemorates the American soldiers who fought in the Spanish-American War, the Boxer Rebellion and the Filipino-American War…. Read more »
Cloud Couch
Vivian Beer was chosen to place her sculpture, Rustle Diptych II, in Winslow Park, at the corner of Baxter Boulevard and Temple Street in 2008. She contributed Cloud Couch as a companion piece for Rustle Diptych II. Cloud Couch is white painted steel sculptural seating and evokes both clouds and waves. Winslow Park was for… Read more »
Rustle Diptych II
Rustle Diptych II, a vertical, red-painted steel sculpture by Maine College of Art (MECA) graduate Vivien Beer, is sited in Winslow Park, at the corner of Baxter Boulevard and Temple Street. Rustle Diptych II was designed to conjure the idea of “a sail caught in the wind, a wisp of smoke and an ironic throne.”… Read more »
Civil War Monument, Stinson Memorial
The Civil War Monument, or the Stinson Memorial, in the historic Eastern Cemetery, is a grave marker for Alonzo P. Stinson, a Union volunteer killed at the First Battle of Bull Run in Virginia on July 21, 1861. This Civil War battle represented the largest loss of life the United States had experienced in war… Read more »
Union Station Mural
Maine artist, Don Thayer, painted the mural on the wall above the doors leading into the Portland Expo auditorium in 1979. It depicts nearby Union Station, which stood from 1888 to 1961 on St. John Street on the site of the shopping plaza where Buckdancer’s Choice and Maine Hardware are now located. Don Thayer painted… Read more »
Tidal Moon
Tidal Moon by Jesse Salisbury is a massive abstract sculpture located just outside the Portland International Jetport exit. The piece was sculpted from a 12-ton block of Jonesboro, Maine granite using ancient splitting techniques. Some surfaces were left with rough facets that catch the light, others were polished, evocative of the smooth surfaces of tide… Read more »
Maine Lobsterman
Sculptor Victor Kahill of Portland was commissioned to create the Maine Lobsterman with Maine’s participation in the 1939 New York World’s Fair, as a commemoration of Mainers who have dedicated their lives to fishing. (Today there are 6,000 boats licensed to trap lobsters in Maine and in 2011 they landed 104 million pounds of lobster.) … Read more »
Michael
The sculpture Michael, by John Raimondi, was installed at Canal Square, now known as One City Center Plaza, in May 1974. Through the collective efforts of the Maine Arts Commission, Portland Museum of Art, Portland School of Art (now Maine College of Art), Canal Bank and a grant from the NEA, Raimondi was named an… Read more »
The Little Water Girl
The Little Water Girl was donated to the City of Portland by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 1917. At the time, the WCTU urged its members to create public fountains to provide “pure drinking water” as an alternative to liquor. The Little Water Girl was given in honor of Lillian Ames Stevens, who… Read more »
Jewel Box Bus Shelter
The Jewel Box Bus Shelter was designed by Laura Haddad and Tom Drugan, a Seattle-based public arts team. It was installed in December 2004 after a two year process of review and planning. The goal for the bus shelter was to create focus and energy on Congress Street. The structure is an icon of Portland’s… Read more »
Glimpse
Glimpse, by Wendy Klemperer, was gifted to the City of Portland by William D. Hamill and Mary Louise N. Hamill in celebration of the new Jetport expansion in 2011. As you leave the Jetport, going towards Congress Street, you will glimpse this series of sculptures including a herd of deer, a porcupine, and a wolf… Read more »
Art Underfoot
Art Underfoot was initiated as a Community Art Works project by mayor Jill Duson in 2005. The Public Art Committee created the design theme–reflecting what might be found along the ground that is unique to Portland, such as images of leaves, flowers, acorns, shells, insects, feathers, etc. The heavily traveled Longfellow Square sidewalks were chosen as… Read more »
The Stone Dragon
The Stone Dragon, a sculpture by Maine artist Carole Hanson, sited outside the East End Community School, was originally called The Serpent. The sculpture was commissioned by Maine Arts Inc. in 1996 for Congress Square Park, as part of a new plaza created for music and other events held there. It was designed to line… Read more »
Untitled-Armillary
Untitled-Armillary is a sculpture made by Maine metal sculptor, Patrick Plourde. Casco Bay Sunrise Rotary Club headed up the financial donors of a $10,000 grant to honor Portland Trails with a compass-like monument. Portland Trails donated the piece to the City in 1999. The original plan was for a large compass embedded in the concrete walkway. … Read more »
Thomas Brackett “Czar” Reed
The statue of “Czar” Reed, commemorating the long political career of Thomas Brackett Reed, was created in 1908 by Burr C. Miller, an American sculptor resident in Paris. Reed was an American legislator born in Portland on October 18, 1839. He served in several political positions in the State and was a Republican member of… Read more »
Our Lady of Victories (The Portland Sailors and Soldiers Monument)
Our Lady of Victories is the most prominent piece of public art in Portland. In late nineteenth century America, it became customary to erect civic monuments in memory of historic events and people, and in 1873, seven years after the devastation of Portland’s Great Fire, an association was formed under the leadership of Brevet Brigadier… Read more »
John Ford Statue
The ten-foot high bronze statue of John Ford, a Portland native who is regarded by many critics and film historians to be the greatest movie director in the history of American cinema, is located in the area known as Gorham’s Corner, a neighborhood once heavily populated by Irish immigrants. The piece was sculpted by artist… Read more »
Major Charles J. Loring Memorial Park
The Major Charles Loring Memorial Park was created in 2000 to honor Major Loring. It is dramatic in its scope, sensitive in its purpose, and inspirational to visitors. Created by artist Ann Uppington of Brookline, Massachusetts, and landscaped by the Saco architectural firm of Richardson and Associates, the various elements that make up the installation… Read more »
Lincoln Park Fountain
After the great fire of 1866 in Portland destroyed more than eighteen hundred buildings and left 10,000 people homeless, the Portland City Council appointed a committee to buy land within the area of the burnt district for a public square or park. The land was to act as a firebreak if needed. For the sum… Read more »
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Statue
The cast-bronze Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Statue was commissioned to memorialize Portland’s native son and America’s most famous and beloved 19th century poet. Portland-born sculptor Franklin Simmons, one of the nineteenth century’s leading sculptors, created it in his Rome, Italy studio and it was dedicated September 29, 1888. The sculpture is a portrait of a bearded… Read more »
Hadlock Field Family Sculpture
The Hadlock Field Family sculpture was a gift from Daniel Burke, owner of the Portland Sea Dogs, and his wife, Bunny. They commissioned artist Rhoda Sherbell to create a sculpture that depicted a family going to a baseball game. The acquisition of the statue ran into controversy when it was presented as a take-it-or-leave-it gift… Read more »