“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” – Simone Weil

“I have walked out of the body and into the mountain.” – Nan Shepherd

Join Piedmont neighborhood artist Julie Hammond on Sunday, September 26 at 2pm for Foot Mountain: a Piedmont soundwalk. This slow walk will move listeners through the park’s sonic spaces – from bustle of playing fields to hush beneath 100 year old Douglas Firs – into explorations of nearby residential and commercial areas. Originally platted in 1889 as an exclusively residential neighborhood, Piedmont is primarily known as the home of Peninsula Park and Portland’s oldest Rose Garden. While the neighborhood has changed over the last 130 years (and in the centuries following settlement by European-Americans), it continues to be dominated by single family homes and small apartment buildings with commercial spaces lining major throughways (MLK, Lombard) and industrial zoning north of Columbia Blvd. While it is at first tempting to think that all residential spaces sound the same, this walk will invite listeners to take notice of the moment-to-moment variations and new ways of hearing in familiar spaces.

When: Sunday, September 26, 2:00-3:30 PM

Where: Meet near the front door to the Peninsula Park Community Center (700 N Rosa Parks Way)

Who: Open to all ages (see accessibility information below). Please wear comfortable shoes.

COVID-19: The walk will take place outside and participants will be encouraged to maintain 6′ distance at all times. If unvaccinated, please wear a mask.

A soundwalk is, quite simply, a walk focused on listening to the surrounding environment. Without making a distinction between ‘good’ or ‘bad’ sounds, soundwalks can attune us to the present and bring new understandings of the places we inhabit. The practice of soudwalking was developed in the 1970s in Vancouver, BC by composers R. Murray Schafer, Hildegard Westerkamp, and others, and continues to be used by artists and musicians of all stripes in multiple forms.

Accessibility information: The walk will take around 1 hour and cover approximately 1.5 miles. Pace will be slow with frequent stops. The majority of the walk will take place on paved pathways with some short excursions on grass or gravel pathways. Public washrooms are available at Peninsula Park.