The Confluence Project
with Maya Lin
Ilwaco, Vancouver & Clarkston, WA
Quick Facts
| Client | The Confluence Project |
|---|---|
| Time Frame | 2004 – 2020 |
| Design Team | Greenworks LLC | Maya Lin Studio, Jones & Jones Landscape Architects |
Overview
The Confluence Project is a multi-location, commemorative artwork principally designed by Maya Lin Studio focused on sites located on the waterways of the Pacific NW to celebrate the Native Peoples who assisted those who were a part of the Lewis & Clark mission 200 years ago.
There are 7 sites along the Columbia and Snake Rivers situated in the States of Oregon and Washington. The Andrusko Group was commissioned to perform original work and restoration of other works and worked directly with Maya Lin to realize her creative vision, creating her principal artwork: the Fish Cleaning Station, which is located at the Cape Disappointment site.
Other features included the Mother Stone located at the East end of the SR 14 Land Bridge, the engravings leading to the Cedar Circle, and along the Boardwalk to Waikiki Beach. Additional work included restoration of the Fish Cleaning Station and the basalt seating elements located at the Chief Timothy site near Lewiston-Clarkston.
Description
The Confluence Project with Maya Lin is a multi-site art project commemorating the 200-year anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition. There are 7 sites along the Columbia and Snake Rivers in the Pacific NW. The Andrusko Group has been involved in a number of the sites either as prime fabricator, participating artist, or as a restorationist over the course of the past 17 years.
The first commission site is located at the Cape Disappointment. The local landscape architecture firm hired to design the site was the prestigious Portland Landscape design firm of Greenworks. Greenworks at the time was led by a team of three accomplished principals: Mike Abbate, Mike Faja, and Jim Figurski. The Andrusko Group studio has had the privilege to work directly with all three of these men and their design teams on many more projects over the past nearly 20 years.
During the course of the project, Pete worked directly with Maya Lin in completing her vision.
There are approx. 7 distinct sites related to the Confluence Project, the final site planned at the Celilo Falls Park along the Columbia River has not been started. Pete worked on 3 distinct features at Cape Disappointment: the principal site – the Boat Launch – includes the pavements and natural stone features surrounding a large concrete platform jutting out into the estuary, the setting for the Fish Cleaning Station, a singular artistic feature of the site; a secondary site leading up to the Cedar Circle near Waikiki Beach, which features engraved slabs of basalt with engraving; and a third site – the boardwalk that consists of engraved concrete cast stones leading up to the beach area.
The original work on the boardwalk was performed by others due to the massive commitment Peter was performing during the construction at the site, but he was later involved in a restoration of the boardwalk around 2018, which had been severely damaged in a storm – re-engraving some of the damaged materials and working with the Parks team to reconstruct the damaged portion of the boardwalk.
Additional restoration work was also performed at the Chief Timothy Park site near Lewiston-Clarkston around the 2016/17 period. The final confluence project Pete was commissioned to perform to date is located at the Land Bridge installation in Vancouver, WA – he fabricated the Mother Stone, a unique sculptural carving from the cut end of a massive basalt column, which was designed for the site by the studio of John Paul Jones in Seattle.
