We Are Here

A single alder became a gateway statue in Ashland, then an indoor sculpture in a university library. We Are Here, a 19-foot, 3,000-pound figure group carved by Russell Beebe from a single 53-year-old alder, stood for years where Lithia Way and North Main Street merge, as a gateway to downtown. The Siskiyou reported in 2013 that it took Beebe about half an hour to visualize the theme: family. The carving shows animals and figures representing the Shasta and Takelma peoples of the area, and Southern Oregon University's library says it honors the Native peoples of southern Oregon. One face is a likeness of the Takelma elder Agnes Baker Pilgrim, a longtime friend of the artist. In 2006 the statue was donated to the city and dedicated to the area's Native peoples, in the year of the 150th anniversary of the 1856 forced migrations to the Grande Ronde and Siletz reservations. Beebe told the Siskiyou in 2013, "The sculpture has had a healing effect on the valley." After about six years outdoors, weathering had taken its toll. The library says the move into Hannon Library took a day, with a crane, forklifts, chains, ropes and a flatbed truck, and was followed by a dedication and blessing on 23 May 2013, attended by Pilgrim and the author Winona LaDuke. A full-size bronze replica by Jack Langford now stands at the original site on a stone base by Jesse Biesanz. The two are separate objects: the carved alder is inside the library, the bronze is on the street.