Boundless:
North, Center, South
MULTNOMAH COUNTY LIBRARY
475 NW Division St, Gresham, OR
"Center"
Terresa White, bronze
Mike Suri, stainless steel
“Boundless: North, Center, South” is a series of three sculptures by Mike Suri and Terresa White. Together, these sculptures reflect the rich diversity of Multnomah County Library users and the people of the City of Gresham, East Multnomah County, and the region. They invite community to experience the Gresham Library as a portal to connection, learning, and wonderment.
"North"
Terresa White, bronze swan
Mike Suri, stainless steel base
Inspired by tundra swans who winter in the Willamette Valley, adorning the fields and wetlands and enriching the earth, “North” celebrates Terresa’s culture bearers who moved from Alaska village life to the Pacific Northwest. Her bronze elements in the series symbolize the interconnected and multigenerational community of people from all over the world who use Multnomah County libraries as gathering places for enrichment, community engagement, and knowledge-sharing.
"South"
Mike Suri, stainless steel
Terresa White, bronze spheres
Suri’s futuristic designs reflect a fusion of heritage and innovation, highlighting the library as a vibrant center for human interaction. The sculpture celebrates shared access to science and technology, drawing inspiration from the blooming geometry of Indian wedding mehindi and the rhythms of quantum physics. Through circular motion, repetition, and gentle variation, the works balance precision and fluidity, inviting reflection and curiosity.
Raven's Welcome
4610 NE 42nd Ave, Portland OR
Materials: Bronze, columnar basalt
8' x 4' x 2.5'
Installed: November 2024
Just south of the Columbia River, Cully Neighborhood sits on land where people have gathered in community for centuries. Raven’s Welcome celebrates the cultural significance of this area and its proximity to the life-giving River--a place of gathering for trade and business, a place to live, share, play, age, work, and pray. Raven’s Welcome invites All to come together in community and in care of the River, land, air, non human persons, and each other.
Photo credit: Mario Gallucci
Dependent Arising: Owl & Lemming
City of Lake Oswego, 2nd and A St.
This bronze sculpture honors the interdependence of all beings. Lemming is scaled larger to show its equal position to owl in the ecosystem. Dependent Arising: Owl & Lemming speaks to the interrelationship and equal importance regardless of assumed power differentials, that all beings inhabit in the give and take of survival. In this worldview, there is no independent existence, only interconnection.
Presence Water Shedding
Errol Heights Park, Portland Oregon
Collaboration: Terresa White and Mike Suri
Materials: Bronze and mild steel
December 2023
This 15 foot, monumental sculpture celebrates the unique landscape and ecology of Errol Heights Park.
Terresa's bronze sculptural elements combine human faces with some of the birds and trees of Errol Heights Park-- owl and oak, heron and alder, peacock and maple. Mike's foundational steel sculpture is formed and pressed into elegant, organic shapes inspired by the flora, fauna, and hydrology of Errol Heights Park. Terresa's sculpted abstractions on the backs of the bronze masks echo and correspond to the birds represented and to Mike's steel curves, cups, and paddles.
Presence Water Shedding invites neighbors, gardeners, walkers, children, birders, skateboarders, and visitors to experience its natural and recreational areas.
Immersed
Vanport Building, Portland OR
Immersed tells a Far North story of a young person whose lost vision is restored through their relationship with a red-throated loon. Gratitude, respect, and being in good relationship with the natural world are offered in the story as paths to healing, wholeness, and survival.
Seal Visions: Shared Spirit
Portland Art Museum Permanent Collection
Artists: Terresa White, Bronze
Don Johnston, Baleen, Walrus Ivory
Mark Tetpon, Baleen, Walrus Ivory, Wood
Our families originate in the Far North. We three collaborating artists are Yup'ik, Aleut, and Inupiaq. We share a belief in our interdependence and interrelationship between human and non-human persons such as seals. We share Far North stories of the masked dancer transforming into seal, of the first seal springing to life from the severed fingers of Sea Woman, of the young boy who is sent to live in the underwater home of seals to learn their ways and so become a great hunter. Far North people have long histories and strong relationships with seal people. We are told that seals know the ways of humans, are sensitive to our thoughts and actions, and can hear our words. Caution, care, and respect in the treatment of human and non-human people is central to our understanding of living a good life.
Laughing Duck and
Woman
Regional Arts & Culture Council
Permanent Collection, Portland OR
I sculpted "Laughing Duck and Woman" and "Leaping Salmon and Man" together, so while they are two separate pieces, they have the feeling of a pair. In both, I wanted to express calm ebullience, synergy between action and stillness, harmony between animal and human persons.
Bronze
10" x 8" x 3"
Here to There and There to Here
Mead Building, Portland OR (Temporary Exhibit, 2015)
This collaborative piece by Terresa White and fellow Alaska Native artist, Sean Gallagher, is an expression of their friendship, their interrelated artistic journeys, and their movement in and around their Pacific Northwest homes. HERE TO THERE AND THERE TO HERE is a conversation between Terresa and Sean about their shared Alaska Native ways of navigating place, identity, and culture.
Wood, twine, ceramic, pigment, feathers
