Eight medallions soon to add beauty to Sherwood's pedestrian bridge

SHERWOOD, Ore. — Efforts are underway to grace Sherwood’s pedestrian bridge with bright medallions designed to add sparkle to a structure that makes it easier for students and others to walk to and from Sherwood High School.

The bridge provides a safe and convenient way for people walking and biking to cross Highway 99W. With the new high school, Sherwood West expansion, YMCA, skatepark, and nearby housing developments on both sides of the highway, the bridge creates a vital connection for students, families, and the broader community, according to the City of Sherwood.

According to the Sherwood Center for the Arts, there will be eight new pieces of public art in the form of medallions set in the concrete of the bridge, made from cast bronze.

Each medallion will represent a theme that is important to Sherwood’s past, present and future.  

Themes will include Kalapuya basket and camas bloom, symbolizing the relationship between traditional knowledge, seasonal harvesting and honoring the Kalapuya people.

Also featured will be migration and momentum, depicting human-made paths like railroads and natural migration routes.

Those visiting the bridge will see a medallion showing agriculture, focusing on crops specific to Sherwood’s past and present.

Another medallion will depict industry, honoring the beaver and Sherwood’s brickmaking past.

Look for trails and tracks, symbolizing both human and animal travel in the area.

Other medallions on display will include the Timber industry, depicting both fir forests and oak savannah, and bowmen and raptors, honoring both the Sherwood High School mascot and the idea of flight.

And look for bridges and waterways, picturing the actual pedestrian bridge in the artwork along with native animals.

The Sherwood Cultural Arts Commission worked closely with the city council and Deann Garcia, an artist, in formulating the plans.

Another artist key to creating the upgrades is Vicki Scuri, who is based in the Seattle area.

“Scuri designed the lighting designs that are currently on the bridge at night,” Chanda Hall, manager of the Sherwood Center for the Arts, said. “She is another artist we have worked with to create public art for the bridge.” Scuri also designed the custom concrete art that sits in front of the YMCA.

“It’s very important to us to have Northwest artists,” Hall said. “Vicki Scuri, I can’t say enough about her. She works all over the country. We’re just lucky to have her as part of this. Deann Garcia is out of Corvallis but grew up in the area.”  

According to Hall, The Cultural Arts Commission was tasked with helping identify places for public art and helping find an artist to make the public art possible.

“Where we are in the medallion process is we have gone through many design iterations presented to the city council and they approved the final design,” Hall said.

Asked when everything will be completed and what the final cost will be, Hall didn’t give a specific number, but said, “The cost was calculated as part of the bridge project — right now, we are waiting to hear when the fabrication is going to be done.”  

Hall hopes additions will be finished this fall, but no date has been set.  

“It’s going to be a beautiful part of the bridge,” she said. “I’m really excited. I could not be happier with the process working with artists, working with the dedicated members of the Cultural Arts Commission and working with city council on this — we’re going to enhance this beautiful bridge and hopefully we will continue to inspire for generations to come.”