Sculpture of Sacagawea installed on campus

Bronze piece by Glenna Goodacre features Sacagawea and Jean Baptiste

Posted September 5, 2003

(Portland, Ore.)— Art critics and scholars refer to artist Glenna Goodacre as America’s sculptor. Her works as both painter and sculptor touch on themes from the nation’s history. Goodacre, whose career spans more than five decades, is now represented on the Lewis & Clark College campus through a new bronze sculpture. On Friday, Sept. 5, the College officially unveiled the Goodacre bronze work, Sacagawea and Jean Baptiste.

The statue’s subject gives a sense of our history as a nation and as a state," said Paul E. Bragdon, interim president of Lewis & Clark College. "It is a reminder of how America’s expansion affected the land and native peoples, and it is a symbol of how people can cross barriers of culture and language to work together in expeditions of all sorts. The quest for knowledge that guided the Lewis and Clark Expedition continues with liberal arts education."

Bragdon said the sculpture symbolizes "our purpose as a college: to seek out new discoveries as a community endeavor." Bragdon added, "this depiction of Sacagawea and Jean Baptiste is an important reminder of our work to prepare leaders for a diverse, interconnected, and enterprising world"

Goodacre’s public art includes Washington, D.C.’s Vietnam Women’s Memorial, Philadelphia’s Irish Memorial to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Irish potato famine, and Sacagawea on the obverse side of the millennium golden dollar coin.

The sculpture was selected by Richard Bertea and donated to Lewis & Clark in honor of his wife, Hyla, a College trustee, and their daughter, Bay ’94.

"Hyla Bertea is just as passionate about the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the history of our nation as she is about education," said Bragdon.

The bronze statute is 83 inches high and weights 876 pounds. It is permanently installed southeast of the Manor House on campus.

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For more information, please contact:
Tania Thompson
Senior Communications Officer
503-768-7961
taniat@lclark.edu