Living Room With a View

Gresham Outlook, June 23, 2001

Anne Endicott

It's always comforting when someone leaves the light on at home. Living Room, a permanent sculpture recently completed at Tri-Met's Gresham Transit Station at Northeast Eighth Street and Kelly Avenue, does just that as it welcomes residents home day and night. "Tri-Met runs about 22 hours a day, so it's a nice symbol that we get people where they're going safely," says Tri-Met's Mary Fetsch.

The rose-toned couch and gold armchair, cast in concrete, are positioned on a mosaic tiled 'rug' with inset panels depicting various scenes synonymous with east county - a snow boarder, the east wind and the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, among other things. A bronze coffee table and television set round out the room setting along with a black iron floor lamp that's always on. "It's a comfortable surrounding for people who are waiting for the bus," says former Gresham resident Jarrod Schermerhorn. "It's kind of homey with the couches and TV."

Created by Sandy resident and Mt. Hood Community College visual arts instructor Tamsie Ringler, the project was more than two years in the making. The mosaic, started in February 2000, took more than 2,000 hours to complete and was assembled by a group of 50 volunteers, including high school and college students and retirees. The project is the first eastside art commission awarded by Tri-Met's Public Art Program. It was also the first publicly funded art commission for Ringler, one of three finalists whose work was considered by Tri-Met's Public Art Advisory Committee. "When the eastside line was built, we didn't have an art committee," Fetsch says. "It's been really nice that as we add new features to the line that we also add art. It's also great that we had local artists and students working on it. We think it really reflects the community."

Ed Winslow, who travels in and out of Gresham Transit Station frequently, says the scene brings 'character' to the station by reviving a piece of Americana. "This is what front porches used to look like," he says. "It's a glimpse of something that's been lost." Winslow says that while the sculpted furniture brought back a few memories, it also prompted a sense of deja vu. "It's my couch!" Winslow said. "I had that couch at one time."

Artist Tamsie Ringler sits with her husband, Maris Strautmanis, on a cement couch while helping her sister-in-law, April Sopkin, with a camera. Also pictured is Ringler's grandfather, Robert Erickson, during the installation called 'Living Room', at Gresham Transit Station on July 21. (Photo courtesy of Flint Carlton)