Hawthorne Bridge Study

I spent a lovely afternoon at Tom McCall Waterfront Park along the Willamette River. Part of the time I was walking, some reading, and the rest I spent photographing the Hawthorne Bridge.

But first, this photo from the park plaque shows the expressway that was removed to create the park. It is good to know that sometimes nature and aesthetics triumph. The park is part of a greenway along the river.

The Hawthorne Bridge is near one end of the park, and my interest was spurred by a project to make a quilt based on one of Portland’s bridges. The project involves using a half yard of Violet Craft’s fabric line whose design was inspired by Waterfront Park–some pieces are shown on the project blog entry. The project originators want quilts to be somewhat equally distributed among the 7 or so bridges, so we each signed up for a bridge, and I selected the Hawthorne Bridge–partly because at the time the list was in my hands, Hawthorne Bridge had only two others signed up and partly because it is one I really like.

The project designers want us to look under/over/and beyond the bridge. So I stood under the entry road on the east side of the river for the first shot and kept walking for more views down under.
If I were doing something realistic, I’d work on capturing that skyline with the bridge blended into it.
Sometime, I foresee a quilt made from this view under the bridge itself–it fits my current minimalist instincts. However, I’m debating whether there needs to be something more recognizable for the present project. Also the fabric line lends itself to something less stark.

Distinctive features of this bridge are the four arches on the eastern approach, this center moveable portion, and one more arch to link to the western side. There are other bridges with multiple arches, and the Steel Bridge has what looks to me a similar lift, so it is the combination that is distinctive and the red color of the weights. It is good I have time to think on this one. I don’t immediately see how I can combine that view of the bridge with the fabrics or with modern design. And they have asked for a modern quilt.

I love these details. There is a lot of room to apply what I learned in Rosalie Dace’s class at Sisters about lines in design. I may just have to do a series.

No rush, though. Due date is sometime in the spring of 2014.

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