Art Install – First American Title

This November we completed a truly unique project with First American Title – Commercial Division located in the 200 SW Market building in downtown Portland.

HISTORY LESSON
Some background on the building and the neighborhood known as the “South Auditorium District” is required to understand the scope of the project. 200 Market is a LEED gold rated building owned and operated by local developer John Russell. The building is situated on the edge of downtown Portland and is situated like a portal into approximately 4 blocks of tree lined walking paths and green space south of the building. Both Pettygrove City Park and Lovejoy Fountain Park, sit within these meticulously designed city city blocks, which are two Portland hidden gems.

These two parks (and later the Keller Auditorium Fountain) were designed by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin between 1963 – 1970. Halprin was selected by the PDC for this task as part of an even larger strategic plan that between 1949 – 1979 cleared and rebuilt “The South Auditorium District” – the city blocks bordered by Market, Front, Arthur, and Fourth Streets. By 1962, the PDC had condemned 54 blocks for redevelopment and relocated more than 1,500 residents as part of their larger strategic plan.

END RESULT
First American Title sought to represent this visually beautiful but also humanly dramatic history of the neighborhood. Kristine Pizutti, Vice President at First American Title, and long time friend of Art, Etc, came to us and asked us to give them some ways to accomplish the task with the artwork for their newly renovated lobby and conference room.

In the lobby, we enlisted the help of the an archivist named Tanya March who helped us pull resources from of a variety of historical libraries in the city – including the Portland Archives and The Oregon Historical Society. Kristine and her team came up with their favorite photographs and we planned a visual history of the people, buildings and events that formed this “urban renewal” project. We designed the acrylic displays to work with the modern interiors package. The display is a great juxtaposition to the historical content and the bright green wall.

In the conference room, we were lucky enough to be able to use the original drawings, provided by the Halprin Conservancy, of the Pettygrove, Lovejoy, and Keller Auditorium fountains. The sketches are reprinted on birch wood and custom designed by Art Etc as a wall installation.

This project was a true pleasure to work for on for two reasons: working with the bright and engaged team at First American and the opportunity to showcase some of the great custom resources we have here at Art Etc.

Thank you First American Title and enjoy your new artwork!!

Some photos from the original post were not preserved in the web archive and could not be restored.