Launching August 7th, 2006, the Wildwood Follow the Crows Trail is a new public art trail presented in partnership with LAIKA, OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, Wild in Art, the Portland Metro Chamber, Downtown Portland Clean & Safe, and supported by the Visit Downtown Campaign.
The public ribbon cutting ceremony will take place 11 AM until noon, at the Multnomah County Library in St. Johns, 7510 N Charleston Ave, Portland, OR 97203. Pick up a map of the trail and start your tour!
The art walk runs August 7 – November 1, 2026.
The trail will feature over 30, one-of-a-kind sculptures, hand-painted by local artists, and is sponsored by donors from the Portland-metro community. All the sculptures will be auctioned off once the art trail closes in fall of 2026, and the proceeds will support OH
SU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.
Oregon Film, the Oregon Film Trail, and Portland Events and Film Office, are co-sponsors of one crow that was designed by Portland artist, Raé Sheridan. Sheridan is an artist whose work is a deeply personal narrative of reclamation and self-discovery, resulting in re-imagined histories surrounding women’s shared experiences and mythos. Sheridan’s work is a commentary on the untold stories and experiences of women, as well as a social critique, through an interdisciplinary art practice that focuses on figurative oil paintings.
Her studio in Portland, Oregon, offers a unique perspective far from her East Coast home of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Finding connections with the environment of the Pacific Northwest has been vital to Sheridan’s work, sparking an interest in the influence of different landscapes origins, and histories on her art, from east to west.
LAIKA’s Wildwood is directed by Travis Knight and based on Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis’ beloved novel of the same name, inspired by Portand’s legendary Forest park. The stop motion adventure brings will be released in theaters everywhere October 23rd, 2026.
This project invites the community to experience Portland through art, imagination, and discovery. Set in a magical version of Portland’s Forest Park, the story has now come full circle as a feature film handcrafted by Portland-based LAIKA, a celebration of the city that inspired it. It is the kind of story that could only have happened in Portland, where world-class storytelling, artistry, and imagination have deep roots. Each crow tells a unique story, transforming sidewalks, parks, and neighborhoods into an open-air gallery that celebrates creativity, curiosity, and community.
Artist statement:“I create art for those who feel exhausted by our patriarchal and heteronormative society. My paintings offer a new narrative. Traditionally, feminine figures in art have been depicted as objects of lust, created to satisfy the male gaze. These figures were created inside a world where they exist in some capacity, beholden to male ideologies and experiences of women, which informs not only the societal canon but the internal dialogues of women themselves, confining women to male-centric ideologies.
As a painter, I primarily work with oil paints to bring my visions to life, surrounded by the history and context of the traditional use of the medium as well. Oil paint’s rich texture and vibrant colors allow me to create deeply expressive and immersive works. Each brushstroke is a deliberate act of reclaiming space and narrative for women and gender-queer individuals. My technique involves layering, wiping, scraping, and blending, creating a sense of depth and movement with textured elements that invite viewers into the worlds I envision. My art does not focus on the oppression of women and marginalized individuals, but on envisioning what comes next or beyond. We have long fought for recognition as fully human, often neglecting to imagine the world we strive to create. I demonstrate that other realities are possible by depicting an ambitious reality where my figures thrive. By showing a world full of possibilities, acceptance, grace, and beauty, where figures reside fully as their true selves without judgment, I inspire viewers to seek their own paths toward this envisioned reality.”
After extensive research in feminist discourse, feminist art history, and BIPOC feminist memoirs, I envisioned a world not in defiance of male-centered themes, but beyond them. I imagined how our stories would unfold if women had been narrators of history, rather than subjects. I began to imagine what that world would look like, and who I would find if I opened that door to my psyche, but also what the collective consciousness of women would be like if we had been able to tell our secrets loudly, openly, not just through oral telling and clandestine meetings, freely sharing our truths without restraint.
With each new painting I create, I imagine a world in which all people are loved, honored, and held, fully in their glory, allowing themselves to be seen by the viewer fully and to tempt the onlooker to join them in a world that seems freer than the one we’re experiencing. As if we could step through realities by walking into the canvas itself. My work suggests an alternative reality, one free from patriarchy, compulsory heteronormativity, and oppression.
My art does not focus on the oppression of women and marginalized individuals, but on envisioning what comes next or beyond. We have long fought for recognition as fully human, often neglecting to imagine the world we strive to create. I demonstrate that other realities are possible by depicting an ambitious reality where my figures thrive. By showing a world full of possibilities, acceptance, grace, and beauty, where figures reside fully as their true selves without judgment, I inspire viewers to seek their own paths toward this envisioned reality.”
More information on the Wildwood Follow the Crows Trail.
Donate to the OHSU Foundation, here.
