Hansen created over 700 works of art during his long career, including several architectural commissions

VANCOUVER – The city of Vancouver will host a ribbon cutting commemorating the public art installation of 34 sculptural panels designed and cast by celebrated Pacific Northwest artist James Lee Hansen. 

The ribbon cutting will take place from 1 to 1:30 p.m. on Fri., Jan. 28 at the corner of Esther Street and Cascade Way in Vancouver.

Speakers at the ribbon cutting include:

· James Lee Hansen; artist

· Jane Hansen; artist’s wife, manager and collaborator

· Anne McEnerny-Ogle, Vancouver Mayor

The panels formed the original 1963 façade of the Clark County Title Company Building. The five-foot, white Portland cement square panels were salvaged prior to the building’s demolition in 2019 with funding from the Vancouver Culture, Arts & Heritage Grant Program and iQ Credit Union. The panels have been cleaned and resealed to protect sculptural integrity. They are permanently displayed along the Esther Street Underpass, a popular thoroughfare between Vancouver’s city center and waterfront.

Physical distancing protocols will be followed, face masks are encouraged.

About James Lee Hansen

James Lee Hansen was born in Tacoma, Washington, in 1925 and moved to Clark County with his family in 1936. Hansen served in the U.S. Navy during World War II aboard the destroyer USS Preston. When he returned to the states, he attended the Portland Art Museum School (now the Pacific Northwest College of Art). After graduating in 1950, Hansen opened Burnt Bridge Studio on 39th Street in Vancouver, where State Route 500 meets Interstate 5 today.

Hansen soon gained recognition as a master of lost-wax bronze casting. In the 1950s, Hansen helped make wax molds of many of the prehistoric petroglyphs in the eastern Columbia River Gorge when construction of the John Day and The Dalles dams threatened the ancient artworks.

Hansen created over 700 works of art during his long career, including several architectural commissions. His sculptures are part of the permanent collections of several art museums in the region. Locally, his work can be seen at the Vancouver library branch on C Street, the Clark College campus, the downtown Portland Transit Mall and Gresham Town Fair.

In the 1970s, Hansen sold his Vancouver studio property to the state to make way for construction of State Route 500 and built Daybreak Studio in northern Clark County, where he still resides. Learn more about Hansen’s work at www.jamesleehansen.com.

Information provided by city of Vancouver.

Article Source: Clark County Today