Sunday, March 6, 2011

Musciglyph


Green graffiti: renewable, sustainable. Topiary in moss.
NE 38th and Wistaria

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

West Bearing


I'm glad these vestiges of the past still grace so many walls in town.

West Bearing sign, NW 12th between Flanders and Everett.

Friday, January 14, 2011

le HAPPY


An evening oasis on NW 16th Ave., under the I 405 ramps.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Utility Covers



Altered by wear and weather, these two are in the Pearl District.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Dolphin


Used for mooring, and beautifully sculptural in its solitude.

Willamette River, Riverscape Esplanade, Northwest Portland.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Sunday, July 11, 2010

GASCO


The brooding melancholy of the old Gasco headquarters
seems a memento mori for an industrial age.

Highway 30 near the foot of the St. Johns Bridge.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Fire Hydrant, Enveloped


Decades from now, will a tree cutter be surprised
to ruin a chain on this hydrant?
NW Thurman Street between 24th & 25th Aves.




A newer hydrant in the early stages of being engulfed.
NW 23rd Ave. at Marshall.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Public Stairs


(First of an intermittent series)

Like small, steep, narrow parks,
public stairs cut interesting cross sections
through Portland hill neighborhoods.

http://www.portlandhillwalks.com

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Hitching Ring


The curb, like all boundary conditions, is a zone in flux.
These little plastic horses come and go, but the charming intervention has
re-animated long obsolete rings all around town:

www.horseproject.net


(side view)


Even at the turn of the last century, who among the urban
population knew how to properly hitch a horse to a ring?

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Graffiti Caboose


The vandalism is perhaps redeemed by the abstract complexity,
softened and harmonized by weather and rust.



NW St. Helens Rd., near NW 35th Ave.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Standpipe


Has this 4 coupling manifold ever been used in earnest,
or is its variegated patina the product of a century of quiet neglect?





Standpipe at SW Taylor and SW 2nd