A short break for a stop at the Installation Space at the Portland Building, a city government building in downtown Portland

This is my third year to participate in the city/county art show known as All The Art That Fits, sponsored by the Regional Arts & Culture Council. And my first time to make it onto what I think of as the back wall of the space. Yea! There is a wall to the left of this one, and a bit of space beneath the stair railing on the right. I think that if there had been more submitted art, then they would have hung some along there, too. When I dropped off my acrylic and tissue paper on canvas board artwork, I asked if it could be placed not too high so that folks might be able to read the word I had spelled out on it with wooden beads. Well, there it is, at the bottom so that folks can indeed read the word, if they're willing to bend a bit at the waist.


The word: GENERATIONS.



Here is the rest of the back wall's art.
 

And here's the art hanging on the wall to the left.

From the RACC Web site: On Wednesday, November 20th RACC will be opening the 17th annual City of Portland and Multnomah County employee art exhibit, all the art that fits. The “salon style” exhibit takes place in the Portland Building Installation Space and is a yearly favorite for both the artists and regular visitors. All types of 2-dimensional artworks are represented in the unique show, from quirky to thoughtful, from beautiful to amusingly odd.

RACC invites visitors to vote for their favorite artwork as part of the People’s Choice Award. This year’s winner will receive two Main Stage ticket vouchers for the Portland Center Stage, generously donated for this event. The exhibition will run through Friday, January 3rd, and the People’s Choice Award winner will be announced on January 6th.

Only original artwork created by current employees of the City or County is eligible. All the artwork submitted will be installed wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling. For those eligible and interested in participating, submissions must be dropped off Wednesday, November 20th, between 8:00 and 10:00 am, to the Portland Building lobby located at 1120 SW 5th Ave. between SW Main and SW Madison.

Viewing Hours & Location: The exhibition is free and open to the public 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday. The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland.

Benson Bubbler

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After work on December 5, no rain fell, so I took advantage of my walk from one homeward bound bus to the other. I stopped in at the Portland Building and took the photos in yesterday's post. Plus, I took this photo of a Benson Bubbler outside the Portland Building, near the southwest corner of SW 5th Avenue and SW Main Street. And, yes, I've had a drink from various Benson Bubblers around the city, without consequence other than quenching my thirst.

I'm especially proud of how this photo turned out--the soft light on the edges of the four bowls, the spigots, and the water; the traffic on SW 5th Avenue; the brick sidewalk. Note the wet look on the sidewalk, near that concrete planter. That's what happens when gusts of wind come in contact with bubbling water. Read on to discover the decision the city makes sometimes, all because of that contact.

About Benson Bubblers from the City of Portland's Web site:

Benson Bubblers are Portland's iconic drinking fountains. The city currently boasts 52 of the fountains and 74 one-bowl variations. Though the single-bowl variations look like Benson Bubblers, they are not. In fact, in the 1970's, the Benson family asked that the installation of the four-bowl fountains be limited to certain downtown boundaries so as not to diminish the uniqueness of them.

And while most Benson Bubblers are, indeed, downtown, there are a couple of notable exceptions.

• In 1965, the City of Portland presented a bubbler to Yosaku Harada, mayor of Portland's sister city, Sapporo, Japan. 
• Sam Hill, a friend to Simon Benson, asked to have a bubbler installed at his Maryhill Museum of Art. 

Benson Bubblers are made of bronze, but years of weathering give them that eye-catching patina finish that makes them so beautiful and green. Patina is a thin layer of brown and greenish oxides that takes years to build up. Well meaning citizens have "cleaned" off the patina more than once over the years, but the Water Bureau has always restored the patina finish, preferring it to the shiny copper.

Bubbler Facts
Drinking water is fresh and NOT recycled, fountains are cleaned routinely.

• The Bubblers flow freely from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., daily.
• The fountains run 365 days per year unless a cold snap or excessively windy weather forces the Water Bureau to temporarily shut them down.
• The fountains serve up Bull Run drinking water! 

Benson Bubbler Legacy
In 1912, Simon Benson, a local businessman and philanthropist, donated $10,000 to the City of Portland to purchase and install 20 bronze drinking fountains, now known as Benson Bubblers.

Local folklore tells us that Simon Benson donated the 20 bronze drinking fountains as an effort to keep loggers out of the saloons at lunchtime. Others say that Benson was inspired after seeing a little girl crying at a 4th of July parade because she couldn't find a drink of water. Either way, the Benson Bubblers have become a historical and enduring legacy here in Portland.

Portland's first Benson Bubbler was installed at SW 5th & Washington. Another one of the original Bubblers was installed in front of Benson's home, where it remains today, to commemorate his generous gift to the city. The remaining 18 original bubblers were installed by 1917. Currently, the Water Bureau proudly maintains 52 of the four-bowl Benson Bubbler fountains throughout the city. 

Construction & Design

A.E. Doyle designed the four-bowl Benson Bubbler. Doyle is the noted architect of the Multnomah County Library, Multnomah Falls Lodge and Portland's PGE Park.

Although most bubblers were made by local foundries, two bubblers were made by students at Benson High School. In 1975, the cost to make a bubbler had skyrocketed and, in an effort to save money, the city asked the principal of Benson High whether his foundry students might want to take on the task. They were excited to try their hand at bubbler construction and eagerly agreed.

The first Benson High bubbler was installed in front of downtown Portland's Oregon Historical Society and the work is of the highest quality. Visitors can check this out for themselves at 1200 SW Park Avenue.

Conservation Efforts

The Portland Water Bureau is committed to using water wisely, and has made significant changes in the design and operation of the bubblers over the years to improve their water efficiency. For example, in 1995, the bureau narrowed the feed lines to the bubblers. This cut water use almost in half.

In 2000, the bureau installed timers which shut the fountains off during low-usage periods, generally in the late night and early morning hours.

In 2005, the Water Bureau installed small, flow-restricting devices in the bubblers to reduce the amount of water that each fountain uses. The devices do not affect the physical appearance of the fountains, but they do reduce the amount of water the fountains use by 40 percent. The bubblers now use less than 1/10th of 1 percent of Portland's daily water demand, yet they still stand proud, as a defining, iconic element of our city's history.

all the art that fits

Last year, I took my submission a day late, so, naturally, no dice on having it in the exhibition. This year I paid attention.

Here's the 411:Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) Press Release from November 28, 2012: all the art that fits returns to the Portland Building Installation Space, December 4, 2012 - January 8, 2013  

It is that time of year again; the annual City and County employee exhibition in the lobby of the Portland Building opens on Tuesday, December 4th and runs through the holiday season. This "salon style" exhibition, open to all current City or County employees, is a yearly favorite and is anxiously awaited by regular visitors to the Portland Building. All types of creative work are represented in the unique show, from quirky to thoughtful, from elegant and beautiful to amusingly odd. Only original artwork created by current employees of the City or County is eligible. The exhibition is non-juried--all the artwork submitted will be installed, hung wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling. For those eligible and interested in participating, submissions must be dropped off Tuesday, December 4th, between 8:00 and 10:00 am, to the Portland Building lobby located at 1120 SW 5th Ave. between SW Main and SW Madison.
 

As seen among the others, my artwork is on the left, framed, with a wide white matte and right beneath the largest artwork.



Here's a close-up. I kept it, just as you see it, for a whole year, ready and waiting for the announcement of this year's event. I named it "Paternal Twins."