Festival Lanterns

Festival Lanterns
Part of the installation in 2017
Artist	Brian Goldbloom
Year	2006 (2006)
Type	Sculpture
Medium	Granite steel
Dimensions	1.8 m× 1.5 m× 1.5 m(6 ft× 5 ft× 5 ft)
Location	Portland, Oregon, United States
Coordinates	45°31′33.6″N122°40′25.2″W / 45.526000°N 122.673667°W / 45.526000; -122.673667

Festival Lanterns was an outdoor 2006 art installation consisting of granite and steel sculptures by American artist Brian Goldbloom, installed in northwest Portland, Oregon, in the United States. Administered by the Regional Arts & Culture Council, the Chinese sculptures were removed in 2025 following concerns from community leaders that the structures were culturally offensive.

Description

Festival Lanterns (2006) featured a series of outdoor granite and steel sculptures, each measuring 6 feet (1.8 m) x 5 feet (1.5 m) x 5 feet (1.5 m), installed between Northwest 3rd Avenue and 4th Avenue at Davis Street and Flanders Street in Portland's Old Town Chinatown neighborhood. Each of the lantern structures was identical in form and placement, "in response to the festival streets' formal layouts", but house unique carvings that "symbolize one or more of the following subjects: a people of common cultural identity, a place in time, historic uses of nearby structures". ^[1]

The southern sculpture at 3rd and Davis remembered artifacts from Japantown which stood on that site until the internment of Japanese Americans in 1942, while the north sculpture at 3rd and Flanders commemorates the construction of Portland's historic and current rail systems. According to the Regional Arts & Culture Council, which administered the work, each of the lanterns "can be seen conceptually as a source of 'light' which radiates energy into the community". ^[1]

History

These Chinese sculptures were removed in 2025 following concerns from community leaders that the structures were culturally offensive. ^{[2] [3]}

See also

• Oregon portal
• Visual arts portal

• 2006 in art
• Friendship Circle , a nearby sculpture by Lee Kelly and Michael Stirling, celebrating the sister city relationship between Portland and Sapporo, Japan
• History of Chinese Americans in Portland, Oregon
• History of Japanese Americans in Portland, Oregon

References

1. "Public Art Search: Festival Lanterns". Regional Arts & Culture Council. Archived from the original on April 15, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
2. "Culturally offensive Chinese sculptures removed from Portland's Old Town neighborhood". KGW . Retrieved March 6, 2025.
3. Profenna, Chiara (March 6, 2025). "These sculptures have been removed after 19 years in Old Town. Here's why". The Oregonian. Retrieved March 6, 2025.