Artist, Activist, and Leader Theresa Bear Reveals What’s Worth Fighting For

In the 1970s, the conceptual American artist Joseph Beuys coined the concept of “social sculpture,” suggesting that if every facet of life can be viewed as an art, then every action, responsibility, or pursuit should be approached from the same creative lens as an art project. In other words, artistry is innate, and every human being is an artist. But Beuys’ theory went one step further—creativity, he believed, shouldn’t be practiced in solitude or behind closed doors, but explored in collaboration and community for social good.

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A simple concept, certainly, but far more challenging to put into practice, especially in a country where 81 percent of people believe the arts are “a positive experience in a troubled world,” but only half see themselves as artistic. For the Portland-based botanical artist and creative multihyphenate Theresa Bear, however, shifting this narrative isn’t just her life’s calling, it’s the most vital and urgent responsibility of our time. “I know everyone is an artist in some shape or form,” she says, “and everyone has something to say.”

Queer, neurodiverse, and bursting at the seams with both imaginative ideas and confidence in community, Theresa lives, breathes, and preaches Beuys’ concept of “social sculpture,” using the biodiversity and interconnectedness of nature as a guide for her cooperative approach to photography. Like Beuys, she sees her genre-defying creative practice not just as essential to her own mental health but as an act of courage and social transformation. Because when we create, we quite literally bring something into existence, proving to ourselves and to each other, she says, “that we can build confidence to do the thing we’re scared of.”

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Primarily a photographer whose medium of choice is flowers, Theresa is a collaborator at heart and has long been an integral part of the Bond & Grace community. You may recognize her photographs from our Secret Garden Collection, or recall last year’s playful Alice in Wonderland Art Novel photo shoot—complete with a live praying mantis, a dead fish, flamingo pool toys, couture costumes, whimsical makeup, and exquisite botanicals. Photographed and filmed in Portland by Theresa with the support of Bond & Grace’s creative direction, her imaginative process and expansive network of Portland-based creatives brought our editorial concept—“Alice can be anyone”—to life in ways we could never have imagined.

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You don’t need to know Theresa personally to sense that her creative process is joy-filled, out-of-the-box, and enriching for both her subjects and viewers. Art, she says, is about love—“a tool we can use in our life to explore things.” Indeed, curiosity is ever-present in her photographs, which, beyond being simply beautiful, are always teeming with joy, serenity, and harmony with the natural world. A stroll through the “garden” of her website reveals a wide spectrum of subjects embracing their identity; whether laughing, meditating, pondering, or masquerading, they are always surrounded by botanicals or a natural landscape of some kind.

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In the spirit of Bueys’ concept, Theresa uses her photography practice as a tool for social change, taking life’s setbacks and turning them into opportunity. As a child, her grandfather taught her that compost is the single most important element of a healthy garden, a lesson she has since realized extends far beyond the soil. Her “Blooming Toilets” series—beautified toilet bowls bursting with floral arrangements—offers a brilliant take on the idea that even the most defiled thing can become beautiful if we allow ourselves to see it in another light.

Brimming with metaphors, Theresa, who calls herself “super neurodiverse,” views the biodiversity of natural ecosystems as a teacher—one that we humans too often overlook. If the healthiest ecosystems are the most diverse ones, why are we so afraid of difference? Wise beyond her years, Theresa bathes in the moss-covered forest floor of Oregon’s Ecola State Park to rest, reset, and find inspiration. 

Because to surrender to the Earth and embrace its scientifically proven healing properties is, in itself, a form of creative surrender—a relinquishing of control that fuels our capacity for expression. We need integrity in ourselves and each other to create, just as the moss depends on the shade of the trees to grow.

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“We are nothing without the Earth,” Theresa says

Always learning from her environment, Theresa sees her own neurodiversity as a “superpower” that manifests in her knack for bringing her community together. Creative ideas may come to her in a flood but are rarely realized without the support of  her creative “dream team”—creatives of all mediums and mindsets that she’s met over the years. If her vision involves movement, for example, she’ll call on a dancer friend, trusting in them even when the prompt is as abstract as, “how would you, in costume, show a butterfly dance?” Because magic happens, as Theresa knows first-hand, when her ideas are executed in community. Just like the natural world, a communal project needs “every little thing in it to be successful.”

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In addition to her own photography projects, Theresa also works as a middle-school digital arts teacher, leading an affinity group for neurodivergent kids. Last year, she encouraged her class to apply for a Diversity Month mural competition hosted by Portland’s public transit system, and—in a testament to their own “superpowers”—their concept, “Neurodiversity is Natural,” won the contest. Now, a beautiful, calming blue mural celebrating neurological differences travels through Portland on wheels. Bearing the headline “All Are Welcome, Neurodiversity is Natural,” the mural features cyanotype silhouettes of her students, each child’s outline bursting and blooming with its own mini ecosystem of plants and animals. 

Despite the different personalities, moods, and developmental stages of her middle schoolers (half the class craves quiet time while the other half can’t sit still), the mural project put the co-ed group into a creative, idea-generating flow. It was the perfect way for the kids to come together, Theresa says, a prime example of how “anywhere there’s a space where people are gathering…there’s an opportunity to make art.” Rightfully proud of this major accomplishment that speaks to her skills as a teacher, leader, and social activist, Theresa announced the mural on Instagram last July, writing, “My heart is exploding.” 

Indeed, making art accelerates the process of social bonding between individuals, not only because it makes us feel more expressive and free, but it also helps foster a collective identity. As a member of a mural arts program in Pennsylvania wrote, “Without that mural, we wouldn’t be a community.”

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In a political moment riddled with fear—fear of education, diversity, expression, fear of our neighbors even—it’s safe to say that the world needs more people like Theresa Bear. People who can look at a dirty toilet and see a flower; realize that the colors of the American flag blended together make lavender; people unafraid to put on a beautiful costume and dance, just for the sake of feeling free. Like a camera with no filter, our nation has the opportunity to make flowers out of shit, to look at “who we really are” and to “do something,” about it, she says. Quoting the poet and activist Andrea Gibson, Theresa ended our conversation on an apt and inspiring note: “If we consciously fuel our joy, if we put our attention on the world’s beauty, we will have far more strength in stamina to show up to the world’s pain.” So ask yourself, Theresa said, “what are you fighting for?”

Recommended Reading and Listening:

• The Art World's Next Renaissance, blog
• The Art World's Next Renaissance, podcast
• Artworks Through the Ages Inspired by Radical Togetherness
• How Depression Fuels Creativity: Emotive Works from the Bond & Grace Art Collection