Portland Winter Light Festival is “Between the River and the Stars”

Portland, OR. If you didn’t have a chance to check out the second annual Portland Winter Light Festival, you’ll enjoy these photos of the highlights. The theme was Between the River and the Stars. This year’s #PDXLightFest expanded to include Zidell Yards on the West side of Tilikum Crossing. Presented by the Willamette Light Brigade and powered by PGE renewable energy, the Portland Winter Light Festival, is a winter event hosted at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI).

The Cosmic Messenger by Miki Masuhara-Page is an interactive piece where festivalgoers write messages to one another in chalk “from out of this world and back.”

The Flamethrower Chandelier is a 5-arm chandelier with LEDs and a bowl of fire on each arm made by Ryan Ramage. When pulled, a chain with a crystal handle can be ‘played’ in short poofs or long blasts of pyrotechnics to illuminate the landscape. Inspired by the gasoliers of the 1800s, but also incorporating modern technology, the Flamethrower Chandelier is part steampunk, part cyberpunk, and part percussion instrument.

Stoicheia by Lilli Szafranski and Jesse Banks is an homage to Earth’s earliest thinkers, Plato and Euclid, merging modern technology with the foundations of mathematics, and dedicating it to the culture from which modern academia was born. A perfect dodecahedron, each side depicts the iconography of one of the Twelve Olympians, the major deities of the Greek pantheon.

The Wasabi SOAR ladies got into the spirit of Winter lights.

Ivan McLean enjoys making things that glow in the night. His 14’ Fire Dragon breathes fire and is also a bbq.

The Portland Spirit Lights were created by Mark LaPierre.

Here’s a video of the first year of the festival.

Inspired by light festivals in some of the most popular cities around the globe, the Portland Winter Light Festival is designed to celebrate the spirit of winter and warmth of community. Using light, color, artistry, performance, and imagination, PWLF brings people together during a time of year typically reserved for the indoors. Organizers say bundle up and come celebrate again next February.

Elisa Klein

I’ve been a professional journalist and writer since 1987, (and long-time reporter for KOIN-TV.) As a nationally published reporter, with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, I love to report positive news and information. Journalism has also connected me with another non-profit where I served as a leader; the Northwest’s biggest writer’s organization: The Willamette Writers.