BNSF Trail Bridge, part of Fairfield Loop Trail, Fairfield, Iowa.

Commissioned by the Jefferson County Trails Council, with support from an NEA Challenge
America Grant. Collaboration with project engineers and fabricators. Steel fabrication
by Schaus-Vorhies Manufacturing, Fairfield, Iowa.
Completed October 2004.

The design for the bridge's steel cage was inspired by several historic structures, particularly the timber framework of locally designed and manufactured Louden barns. The old wooden railroad trestles and bridges of a bygone era were also sources of inspiration. By elongating the angles and alternating their direction, artist Judy Bales created a pattern that gives rhythm and dynamism to the bridge while being reminiscent of the structures pictured here.

This theme continues in the ceramic tiles that enhance the bridge's concrete curb. These tiles were designed and created by Mark Shafer's advanced art classes at Fairfield High School. They depict details of Louden barn blueprints and Louden Machinery parts catalogs.

This bridge blends history and design in an elegant display of public art that is pleasing to the eye, functional, and educational.

Judy Bales and Fairfield High School art teacher Mark Shafer developed a curriculum for advanced art students to design and glaze 171 tiles, in sets of three, for the bridge interior.  The cropped images range from barn or livestock overviews to fine details of mechanical parts that appear dramatically abstract.