You’ve probably noticed that roundabouts are a way of life here in Bend…and so is art!
Put the two together and you’ve got the Roundabout Art Route. Part cultural diversion, part artistic scavenger hunt, you’ll discover dozens of fantastic pieces of public art as you twist and turn through town. From tributes to Bend’s heritage to artistic whimsy, each installation has been thoughtfully created by artists from around the world who believe art makes the world go round. And round and round.
Bend’s roundabout sculptures were honored by Americans for the Arts as one of the most innovative approaches to Public Art in the country. All this accessible art is thanks to Art in Public Places, a visionary local non-profit organization on the arts scene since 1967.
It’s easy to do the Roundabout Art Route at your own pace. Simply pick up the map at the Bend Visitor Center or download it.
Gilded River features ten stylized aspen trees at 22’ tall with hundreds of colorful kinetic leaves that spin and sway in the breeze and cast shadows across the roundabout. The artistic team says, “Gilded River was designed especially for Bend and celebrates nature and how it influences our lives here in the Northwest.”
You and I is made up of five figures (12 ft x 4 ft x 3ft) that appear to be in motion, changing position and creating new perspectives as you pass through the roundabout. “This art will celebrate our connectedness with play and imagination,” says Wiener.
The visual trick in this silicon bronze Mobius may have you heading through the roundabout more than once. Created by Northern California artist Roger Berry, the shape-shifting Lodestar is often viewed as the gateway to the Old Mill District. And if you look west for just a moment, you’ll catch a glimpse of the stunning Cascades in the distance.
Along with Centennial Planter, Centennial Logger was created by long-time Central Oregon artist Jerry Werner to commemorate the City of Bend’s 100th anniversary. The bronze logger looks as if he might be gazing at Farewell Bend Park and remembering a time when the area was a bustling mill town. Or maybe he’s just looking at all the happy people and dogs, wishing he could join in the fun.
Centennial Planter is installed close to an old log deck along the Deschutes as a tribute to the region’s deep roots in the logging industry. With Centennial Logger, artist Jerry Werner created the two pieces to represent the cycle of life. Werner’s bronze pieces start out as clay sculptures, allowing him to capture the smallest details. We love the seedlings in the hip pouch, just waiting to be planted. Lucky little trees.
Award-winning Portland artist Lee Kelly leveraged his 50+ years of sculpting experience to create Sound Garden, a stainless steel representation of organic musical notes rising above native plants and trees. Kelly has spent years traveling the world to fuel his love of art, architecture, and high altitude adventure.
Heading down Century Drive after a day on the slopes or at the lakes, Mt. Bachelor Compass is the first piece to welcome you back to Bend. But don’t set your compass by these gleaming brushed aluminum letters. The “S” has been shifted slightly to keep it out of the path of wayward cars. True north? Not so much. Truly beautiful? Absolutely!
Kayaks as art? Perfectly reasonable in a water-loving town like Bend! Troy Pillow constructed Yakaya from nine colorful kayaks. Pillow strives to “create a union of ease between modern design and nature, blending fluidly with their environment and elements.” Yakaya does just that, as it is strategically located next to one of the most popular launch spots for people who are ready to ride the Deschutes
Crafted from an old crane and bucket used to dredge the river so logs could flow freely to the saw mill, Ghost is up-cycling at its finest. With the crane arm and bucket oriented for aesthetics rather than accuracy, this piece is open to interpretation. The artists say “the sculpture is either rising or subsiding. Rising, as with the Old Mill District’s transformation, or subsiding, as the past is lost to history.”
A century ago, the wheels in Cogs played a vital role in keeping the mill running. Today, thanks to the creative wheels turning in artist Dave Fox, they have been reimagined as massive industrial planters. As you drive by this piece you may notice that it’s not technically in a roundabout. Instead, Cogs anchors two smaller traffic circles known as a dog bone. We like to think of it as a two-for-one.
Made of carved steel and red wire, this piece pays homage to the Deschutes-dwelling Redband Trout. While real redsides head upstream in nature, this school of kinetic fish moves with the whims of the wind. If you time it right, you may detect a hint of hops in the air, courtesy of one of Bend’s oldest craft breweries right across the roundabout. Ah, fresh beer and fish. Lunch, anyone?
Depending on the time of year, this deer family can be found decked out in flower leis, holiday garb, and even sunglasses. Artfully cast in bronze the trio is incredibly lifelike, sometimes bringing traffic to a standstill. In fact, if we had a buck for every time people thought they were looking at the real thing, we’d be rolling in the doe.
High Desert Spiral towers 39 feet, the tallest public art sculpture in Bend. “There is something universal about spirals,” says the artist. “We find geological examples of lava cooling into spirals.” He also referenced the way traffic spirals around the roundabout. The work features 60 steel blades which move in the wind. The inside of the blades are painted a bright yellow-orange, “the glow you might find inside a volcano or lava flow.”
The 6-foot sphere at the intersection of Skyliners Road and Mt. Washington Drive has been compared to a bowling ball heading from the Phil’s Trail complex downhill toward the Deschutes. Orb I was created by an artist who approaches making art in a “serious and yet playful way.” With his site-specific work, he hopes to “tap into a location’s history and culture” and give a sense of “the place and its people.”
This piece is suggestive of a totem, with contemporary pictographs including deer, a skier, and a television. In the words of the artist, whose father taught him to arc weld at ten years old, “I like to see sculpture outdoors, highlighting different places. Even places that don’t seem special, they’re made special just by having art there.” The piece is a combination of basalt, granite, steel, and copper.
This stainless steel sculpture is accompanied by a solar panel. If you’re not here at night, you might not realize that it’s to power the light that makes this piece glow in a variety of colors. Fields, a Portland, Oregon, based artist, is an “unequaled fabricator, he creates from direct hard metal, representations which could easily be mistaken for cast work,” says a fellow artist.
The creator of Earth Song is an avid whitewater rafter and references from the natural landscape abound in his work. Featured in two other pieces of public art in Bend, light and reflection play a large role in West’s art. He explains the perfect time to view this sculpture of seven, 17-foot columns is mid-afternoon as you head toward town.
The birds taking flight in Migration symbolize the journey of Central Oregon Community College students on the campus just up the hill. The artist, a native of China, is now a U.S. citizen after he left China following the Tiananmen Square demonstrations. Because of the artist’s dual residency, the piece was forged in China, so it’s gone on a migration of its own!
Katz invites viewers to invent their own stories about the three pieces in this installation, which are based on pure design. Oregonian reporter Grace Kook-Anderson commented on the “human scale” of his public works, saying, “Their curves and colors offer an invitation to come close, to delight in their arrangements. They do not tower over viewers, but rather stand alongside.”
While the artist named his piece Phoenix Rising, no local calls it that. “Flaming Chicken” has become an affectionate nickname for one of Bend’s earliest roundabout art installations. In fact, a smaller version of the piece—usually wearing Mardi Gras beads—graces a major intersection in the Phil’s Trail complex.
The name of this sculpture comes from the artist’s husband, who was a buckaroo (from the Spanish word vaquero) with a horse named Bueno. A resident of nearby Tumalo, she says she “gets her inspiration from the ranch animals and wildlife surrounding [me] every day.”
Montana-based artist Sander specializes in sculpting animals on her 300-acre ranch. Grizzly is a massive bronze and its location close to Bend High School has lead it to be called the “Lava Bear” in honor of Bend High’s mythical mascot. Locals have noted that the bear’s rump points roughly toward Bend High’s traditional rival, Mountain View High School.
Self-taught artist Troy Pillow creates kinetic sculpture. Look closely and you’ll see some pieces move in the wind. He says, “Relying on wind and light as energy sources, art [takes] on a direct relationship with the site and its surroundings.” According to a student from nearby Bear Creek Elementary, “It brings joy to our neighborhood.”
Three Rising is inspired by natural forms, such as the tips of conifer trees and the crescent moon, as well as ski jumps on nearby Mt. Bachelor. Fabricated from stainless steel and lit at night by solar-powered LEDs, the three sculptures are “radiant beacons for both residents and visitors alike,” says Pakker.
Gloria Bornstein describes 22-foot Kickoff as “celebrate(ing) the start of the game.” Pine Nursery Community Park, the home of this work, is a multi-sports complex and Kickoff is “inspired by the high energy activities of the park.” Bornstein said “I’m going to try to create something the community will love forever.”
The woven steel wheel connects the timber mills from Bend’s past, the rolling wheels of cars, and a hamster wheel — humorously representing the routine of daily life. Atop the 24-foot sculpture is a playful golden squirrel offering a striking presence above the traffic signs and cars at this busy roundabout.
Reconstructed in 2007 after a driver treated the roundabout as a straightabout, this piece highlights the role of draft horses in Bend’s early timber history. Many of Field’s pieces explore the evolution of the “complex relationship between the built environment and the natural world.” He’s also responsible for Milky Way.
Gilded River features ten stylized aspen trees at 22’ tall with hundreds of colorful kinetic leaves that spin and sway in the breeze and cast shadows across the roundabout. The artistic team says, “Gilded River was designed especially for Bend and celebrates nature and how it influences our lives here in the Northwest.”
You and I is made up of five figures (12 ft x 4 ft x 3ft) that appear to be in motion, changing position and creating new perspectives as you pass through the roundabout. “This art will celebrate our connectedness with play and imagination,” says Wiener.
The visual trick in this silicon bronze Mobius may have you heading through the roundabout more than once. Created by Northern California artist Roger Berry, the shape-shifting Lodestar is often viewed as the gateway to the Old Mill District. And if you look west for just a moment, you’ll catch a glimpse of the stunning Cascades in the distance.
Along with Centennial Planter, Centennial Logger was created by long-time Central Oregon artist Jerry Werner to commemorate the City of Bend’s 100th anniversary. The bronze logger looks as if he might be gazing at Farewell Bend Park and remembering a time when the area was a bustling mill town. Or maybe he’s just looking at all the happy people and dogs, wishing he could join in the fun.
Centennial Planter is installed close to an old log deck along the Deschutes as a tribute to the region’s deep roots in the logging industry. With Centennial Logger, artist Jerry Werner created the two pieces to represent the cycle of life. Werner’s bronze pieces start out as clay sculptures, allowing him to capture the smallest details. We love the seedlings in the hip pouch, just waiting to be planted. Lucky little trees.
Award-winning Portland artist Lee Kelly leveraged his 50+ years of sculpting experience to create Sound Garden, a stainless steel representation of organic musical notes rising above native plants and trees. Kelly has spent years traveling the world to fuel his love of art, architecture, and high altitude adventure.
Heading down Century Drive after a day on the slopes or at the lakes, Mt. Bachelor Compass is the first piece to welcome you back to Bend. But don’t set your compass by these gleaming brushed aluminum letters. The “S” has been shifted slightly to keep it out of the path of wayward cars. True north? Not so much. Truly beautiful? Absolutely!
Kayaks as art? Perfectly reasonable in a water-loving town like Bend! Troy Pillow constructed Yakaya from nine colorful kayaks. Pillow strives to “create a union of ease between modern design and nature, blending fluidly with their environment and elements.” Yakaya does just that, as it is strategically located next to one of the most popular launch spots for people who are ready to ride the Deschutes
Crafted from an old crane and bucket used to dredge the river so logs could flow freely to the saw mill, Ghost is up-cycling at its finest. With the crane arm and bucket oriented for aesthetics rather than accuracy, this piece is open to interpretation. The artists say “the sculpture is either rising or subsiding. Rising, as with the Old Mill District’s transformation, or subsiding, as the past is lost to history.”
A century ago, the wheels in Cogs played a vital role in keeping the mill running. Today, thanks to the creative wheels turning in artist Dave Fox, they have been reimagined as massive industrial planters. As you drive by this piece you may notice that it’s not technically in a roundabout. Instead, Cogs anchors two smaller traffic circles known as a dog bone. We like to think of it as a two-for-one.
Made of carved steel and red wire, this piece pays homage to the Deschutes-dwelling Redband Trout. While real redsides head upstream in nature, this school of kinetic fish moves with the whims of the wind. If you time it right, you may detect a hint of hops in the air, courtesy of one of Bend’s oldest craft breweries right across the roundabout. Ah, fresh beer and fish. Lunch, anyone?
Depending on the time of year, this deer family can be found decked out in flower leis, holiday garb, and even sunglasses. Artfully cast in bronze the trio is incredibly lifelike, sometimes bringing traffic to a standstill. In fact, if we had a buck for every time people thought they were looking at the real thing, we’d be rolling in the doe.
High Desert Spiral towers 39 feet, the tallest public art sculpture in Bend. “There is something universal about spirals,” says the artist. “We find geological examples of lava cooling into spirals.” He also referenced the way traffic spirals around the roundabout. The work features 60 steel blades which move in the wind. The inside of the blades are painted a bright yellow-orange, “the glow you might find inside a volcano or lava flow.”
The 6-foot sphere at the intersection of Skyliners Road and Mt. Washington Drive has been compared to a bowling ball heading from the Phil’s Trail complex downhill toward the Deschutes. Orb I was created by an artist who approaches making art in a “serious and yet playful way.” With his site-specific work, he hopes to “tap into a location’s history and culture” and give a sense of “the place and its people.”
This piece is suggestive of a totem, with contemporary pictographs including deer, a skier, and a television. In the words of the artist, whose father taught him to arc weld at ten years old, “I like to see sculpture outdoors, highlighting different places. Even places that don’t seem special, they’re made special just by having art there.” The piece is a combination of basalt, granite, steel, and copper.
This stainless steel sculpture is accompanied by a solar panel. If you’re not here at night, you might not realize that it’s to power the light that makes this piece glow in a variety of colors. Fields, a Portland, Oregon, based artist, is an “unequaled fabricator, he creates from direct hard metal, representations which could easily be mistaken for cast work,” says a fellow artist.
The creator of Earth Song is an avid whitewater rafter and references from the natural landscape abound in his work. Featured in two other pieces of public art in Bend, light and reflection play a large role in West’s art. He explains the perfect time to view this sculpture of seven, 17-foot columns is mid-afternoon as you head toward town.
The birds taking flight in Migration symbolize the journey of Central Oregon Community College students on the campus just up the hill. The artist, a native of China, is now a U.S. citizen after he left China following the Tiananmen Square demonstrations. Because of the artist’s dual residency, the piece was forged in China, so it’s gone on a migration of its own!
Katz invites viewers to invent their own stories about the three pieces in this installation, which are based on pure design. Oregonian reporter Grace Kook-Anderson commented on the “human scale” of his public works, saying, “Their curves and colors offer an invitation to come close, to delight in their arrangements. They do not tower over viewers, but rather stand alongside.”
While the artist named his piece Phoenix Rising, no local calls it that. “Flaming Chicken” has become an affectionate nickname for one of Bend’s earliest roundabout art installations. In fact, a smaller version of the piece—usually wearing Mardi Gras beads—graces a major intersection in the Phil’s Trail complex.
The name of this sculpture comes from the artist’s husband, who was a buckaroo (from the Spanish word vaquero) with a horse named Bueno. A resident of nearby Tumalo, she says she “gets her inspiration from the ranch animals and wildlife surrounding [me] every day.”
Montana-based artist Sander specializes in sculpting animals on her 300-acre ranch. Grizzly is a massive bronze and its location close to Bend High School has lead it to be called the “Lava Bear” in honor of Bend High’s mythical mascot. Locals have noted that the bear’s rump points roughly toward Bend High’s traditional rival, Mountain View High School.
Self-taught artist Troy Pillow creates kinetic sculpture. Look closely and you’ll see some pieces move in the wind. He says, “Relying on wind and light as energy sources, art [takes] on a direct relationship with the site and its surroundings.” According to a student from nearby Bear Creek Elementary, “It brings joy to our neighborhood.”
Three Rising is inspired by natural forms, such as the tips of conifer trees and the crescent moon, as well as ski jumps on nearby Mt. Bachelor. Fabricated from stainless steel and lit at night by solar-powered LEDs, the three sculptures are “radiant beacons for both residents and visitors alike,” says Pakker.
Gloria Bornstein describes 22-foot Kickoff as “celebrate(ing) the start of the game.” Pine Nursery Community Park, the home of this work, is a multi-sports complex and Kickoff is “inspired by the high energy activities of the park.” Bornstein said “I’m going to try to create something the community will love forever.”
The woven steel wheel connects the timber mills from Bend’s past, the rolling wheels of cars, and a hamster wheel — humorously representing the routine of daily life. Atop the 24-foot sculpture is a playful golden squirrel offering a striking presence above the traffic signs and cars at this busy roundabout.
Reconstructed in 2007 after a driver treated the roundabout as a straightabout, this piece highlights the role of draft horses in Bend’s early timber history. Many of Field’s pieces explore the evolution of the “complex relationship between the built environment and the natural world.” He’s also responsible for Milky Way.
