This is the fifth installment in our ongoing series of articles paying tribute to Tacoma’s public art works that often go missed by busy commuters passing through and even locals who walk past these monuments every day but never stop to appreciate them. Enjoy!

Each day hundreds of students, staff and visitors to the campus of Tacoma Community College (TCC) flow between the two portions of a sculpture of bronze animals and granite boulders as they walk the most traveled path on campus: that which runs from the south parking lot to the student center. Placement of two parts of an artwork on either side of this well-trodden path forms a kind of gateway that speaks a message to those who have come to learn or to re-tool for a new career: “Ease the burden of your unknowing,” the bronze creatures seem to say. “Find knowledge and make your life easier.”

This sculptural “gateway” is Brad Rude’s “Trailblazing.” Working from a studio in the Blue Hills around Walla Walla, Wash., Rude has been working in bronze since he finished high school. “Trailblazing” was put in place in 2008 through the efforts of the Washington State Arts Commission in conjunction with TCC.

Each half of the sculpture consists of three large, irregular granite boulders that are arranged like a miniature mountain range. Each boulder group is being traversed by a collection of animals cast in bronze. Resembling large, cast-iron toys of an earlier era, the animals are crossing over planks of wood (actually the weather-beaten and tool-marked boards are themselves cast in bronze).

The left hand formation of “Trailblazing” (as one stands facing the student center) is based on a trio of granite boulders with the tallest in the center. The animals stand on their planks that function as bridges between or platforms upon the boulders. Each animal carries a rough-hewn stone upon its head like a burden of ignorance. All the animals on the left side formation are engaged in acts of folly and futility. A blue rhinoceros stands confronting a granite wall. At the top, a green elephant seems about to walk over the edge of a chasm and a gorilla sits opposite the elephant. On the third boulder, a bison mounted on wheels is on a steep pitch and looks as if it will careen out of control.

The right hand formation, by contrast, is a vision of ascent. Here the three granite boulders rise like steps, one higher than the next. The wooden planks form a pathway up the incline. At the foot, a mountain goat stands inside a charming little canoe. A round, blue stone is in the front of the canoe.

In the center is a shaggy bear who is pushing a rounded, greenish stone with his nose. At the peak of this grand crescendo stands a lion who has an owl - the symbol of wisdom - atop his head.

Each of Rude’s bronze animals is a masterpiece. The subtle colors of the patina used on each creates an effect that is both rustic and bright. There is a faux-antique quality to the work. The animals themselves are rendered with a fine degree of naturalism.

The animals on the left - burdened as they are by the rough stones on their heads - are a striking contrast to the animals on the right whose stones are rounded and easier to move. It is easy to view the work as an illustration of wisdom versus foolishness.

Perhaps, however, “Trailblazing” is better viewed not as a contrast of the wise and the foolish but as a progression from ignorance to knowledge. Rude’s title and an inscription on the sculpture hint that the latter is the artist’s intent. “These animals are like us as they go on the journey of life, blazing new trails for themselves and those around them,” reads the inscription. We all start off with our burdens of ignorance and it is by culturally-inherited knowledge and our own efforts (in conjunction with such institutions as TCC) that we transform our ignorance into polished stones of knowledge that makes our passage through life easier to bear. If we persevere, we may be fortunate to end up like the lion: crowned with wisdom.

This very eye-catching sculpture speaks to the mission of the college in a visceral way. One can almost feel it’s message in the gut: Do you want to go through life burdened by ignorance or do you want to discover means to transform yourself through learning and rise to the crest of wisdom?