Oregon Zoo, Portland, Oregon
The “Great Northwest” exhibits at Oregon Zoo were the brainchild of then-director Sherry Sheng, who envisioned a transect across the Western half of Oregon, illustrating how Northwest ecosystems are interconnected. Jan Coleman and researcher Laura Firth spent a year and a half visiting scientists at Oregon State University, traveling up and down the Willamette Valley, and reading in search of information about niches for Oregon’s producers, consumers and decomposers. Eventually this became a series of “interpretive threads” weaving through each of the five exhibit zones: Cascade Crest, Eagle Canyon, Y’East Trail, Willamette Valley Farm, and Steller Cove.
Working on interpretive exhibits for Cascade Crest and Steller Cove, Jan collaborated with the Landscape Architect to create live animal environments supportive of producers, consumers and decomposers, especially focusing on the role of downed wood and its nutrients in each of the zones. Jan introduced public art into the interpretation, using commissioned poetry, sculpture and soundscapes to appeal to a wide zoo audience.
An exhibit overlay defines the interpretive transect from Cascade Crest to coastal Steller Cove after crossing the Willamette Valley. Photos Courtesy The Portico Group.
Columnar basalt in the “Cascade Crest” goat exhibit is flanked by macadam of the Old Columbia River Highway, and steam rises around the three-dimensional graphic “Mountains So Big They Make Weather”. Photos Courtesy The Portico Group.
Portland’s Percent for Public Art program permitted the jury selection of artists whose work could support the interpretive program at “Cascade Crest”.
Children interact with the three-dimensional graphic “Mountains So Big They Make Weather” as steam surrounds them at “Cascade Crest”. Photos Courtesy The Portico Group.
To hide a dank and dreary pathway between the life safety tanks at “Steller Cove” a faux utility corridor and a subterranean laboratory were created, leading visitors to the Underwater Sea Lion Viewing. Photos Courtesy The Portico Group.
Portland’s Percent for Public Art program supported the interpretive program at “Steller Cove” in this work by Kim Stafford etched on the cavern wall and lit by an open chimney in the rockwork above. Photos Courtesy The Portico Group.
