The Elk Statue

For 120 years it stood downtown between two park blocks. In 1991 it made a cameo in one of the most acclaimed films by Portland's favorite-son movie director, Gus Van Sant. In 2020, it was removed from its base and stored in a warehouse. Though it's just a tiny little statue on a traffic median, the "Elk" statue may be the city's most beloved public artwork. And whenever it returns, this circa-1900 statue by the internationally renowned sculptor Roland Hinton Perry, a French-trained classicist called upon to evoke Native American symbolism, shows us a way to move beyond the divisive hero-worship of human statuary.

Om Podcasten

In Search of Portland is a continuing journey through the city we love: a celebration of old and new landmarks, and the dreamers who populate them. Each episode is devoted to one special building or place—a sacred ground of sorts—with a focus on its past, present and future.