North Highway 89 Underpass
Title: Sky Play
Artist: Don Rambadt
Date: 2012
Medium: Cortone and mirror-polished stainless steel
Location: North Highway 89 Pathway Underpass at the National Museum of Wildlife Art
Funding By: Teton County & Jackson Community Pathways, FMC Corporation & The Newton Foundation
Sky Play, by artist Don Rambadt, depicts a large group of young ravens at play, greeting visitors to the pathway entrance at the National Museum of Wildlife Art. The object of the flock’s attention is a stick-toting leader, a reference to ravens’ intelligent use of tools, and its unique position as the only bird that fashions and keeps their favorite “toys.” Five stylized birds made from carbon steel plate – curved and bent to evoke the ravens’ varied wing positions – are mounted on Corten steel panels. The five main birds have a 5-6-foot wingspan and measure 3 feet from head to tail, while the remaining ravens decrease in size, giving the wall installation a sense of depth and perspective. The Corten is oxidizing naturally, becoming integrated with the surrounding subtle earthy palette, and creating a dramatic contrasting patina to the deep black of the ravens.
This artwork has a new story to tell via augmented reality! Download the Hoverlay App when you visit the work in person - or watch the video above - to hear from UW Professor Jeffrey Lockwood with animation by Ouree Lee. Made possible through a grant from Wyoming Humanities.
Title: Aspen Gateway
Artist: Don Rambadt
Date: 2011
Medium: Mirror polished stainless steel
Location: North Highway 89 Pathway Underpass at the National Museum of Wildlife Art
Funding By: Teton County Pathways
As the public entrance to the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s Sculpture Trail, “Aspen Gateway” engages all ages in an interactive art experience. Echoing landscape architect Walter Hood’s philosophy behind the sculpture trail, artist Don Rambadt set out to design a piece that relates directly to the space around it, while at the same time transforming it.
“Aspen Gateway” presents the viewer with a stylized view of an Aspen grove, rendered in mirror-polished stainless steel mounted on a contrasting black background. The reflective steel allows the piece to change dramatically with the surrounding landscape, throughout the day and seasons. Rambadt imagined the piece as a reflection of the sweeping scenery on the National Elk Refuge, as well as a foreshadowing of the wonders that await inside the wildlife museum. When exiting the museum through “Aspen Gateway,” the piece becomes a final point of transition, a final aesthetic experience.
Title: Communities
Artist: Don Rambadt
Date: 2012
Medium: Cortone
Location: North Highway 89 Pathway Underpass at the National Museum of Wildlife Art
Funding By: Teton County Pathways
Don Rambadt channels his lifelong curiosity of nature, namely birds, into his sculptures. For the retaining walls at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, the Wisconsin-based artist decided to explore the ecosystems neighboring the public art site on the National Elk Refuge. He created “Communities,” a stylized depiction of the six major plant communities found on the refuge, using six panels of Corten steel. He simplified the plant forms into silhouettes then cut into the steel.
Through the piece, Rambadt set out to give the viewer a sampling of the surrounding environment in a single, elegant landscape, while encouraging them to see that there are indeed unique, separate ecosystem communities that make up the grand vistas that are a part of the Greater Yellowstone experience. His “communities” – Native Grassland, Sage Scrubland, Riparian Aspen Woodland, Wetland, Cultivated Fields and Coniferous Forest – are often overlooked, and therefore at greater risk.