Rick Bartow's sculpture The Responsibility of Raising a Child

Rick Bartow is a Native American artist whose work includes the outdoor bronze sculpture located in the Portland Transit Mall at the intersection of Southwest 5th Avenue and Taylor Street. The piece, which can be called From the Mad River to the Little Salmon River or The Responsibility of Raising a Child, was designed in 2004 and completed in 2010.

Cast in 2009 by the Cascade Fine Arts Foundry, the sculpture depicts a coyote (the trickster) carrying several items on its back. These include a grandmother mask with a tattoo, a pair of salmon, a Pacific lamprey eel feed, a basket holding a baby, and several birds. The birds include a killdeer, an eagle with outstretched wings, and a raven.

The sculpture contains specific cultural symbolism, such as the moon mask on the eagle's tail which symbolizes women and a sun mark on its wing representing men. Visit the sculpture at its Portland home to see the detailed bronze work by Bartow.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons