The Bear Deluxe magazine explores place-based issues though writing and the visual arts.
About the magazine
Exploring environmental issues through editorial and art
The Bear Deluxe Magazine is the flagship project of Orlo and is published semi-annually from our headquarters in Portland, Oregon. The magazine aims to enrich the cultural dialogue about the environment through creative nonfiction, interviews, reportage, essays, reviews, poetry, fiction and visual art published in the soy-based inky, recycled pages of the magazine and online.
Distribution
The Bear Deluxe roams wild and free throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
The Bear Deluxe calls Portland, Oregon home, but our territory ranges far and wide. Each issue makes its way up and down the West Coast, to the Eastern seaboard and overseas.
Distribution outlets include bookstores, libraries, cafes, community centers and even a few bowling alleys and laundromats (we love laundromats). The magazine is also made available via a series of art boxes around Northwest Portland, through events and conferences and via various “distribution associates” located around the country. Outside of Portland, some of our more popular locations are Eugene, Oregon, the Western Rockies of Colorado, the Mission District of San Francisco, Capital Hill in Seattle, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Yeah, Baton Rouge!)
You can guarantee that every issue of The Bear Deluxe lands in your neighborhood by joining our stealth crew of distribution associates. We will send magazines for you to distribute to your favorite local coffeeshops, bookstores and bars. Email us with “distribution associate” in the subject line and tell us where you would like to drop the magazines. Or ask your local business owner to get in touch with us and we will send magazines to their front door.
And while most copies are distributed free-of-charge there are many reasons to subscribe—in particular, copies go very quickly wherever we distribute.
Permanent collections of the Bear Deluxe magazine can be found in the New York Public Library, Multnomah County Central Library and Pacific Northwest College of Art.
Art Boxes
Outdoor magazine distribution boxes as public art? You bet.
With the support of Neighbors West-Northwest and Portland’s Office of Neighborhood Involvement, Orlo has developed Art Boxes located throughout Northwest Portland and its environs. The plain metal boxes are painted by local artists to reflect a neighborhood theme and then located at strategic intersections.
Sample and Back Issues
Miss the latest issue?
Sample issues of The Bear Deluxe are available for $7 per Issue. Unless you specifically request otherwise, we’ll send you the more recent issue as a sample. Go here to check out our back issues and order by PayPal. If you are a requesting an issue other than the most recent one please specify which issue you would like in the notes section of your PayPal order.
Awards and Recognition
Long live independent print media
Orlo and The Bear Deluxe Magazine have been recognized for editorial, creative and design excellence by the Oregon Arts Commission, the Oregon Cultural Trust, Literary Arts, Oregon Humanities, the Regional Arts & Culture Council, the Bumbershoot Arts Festival, Print magazine, Adbusters, Orion, High Country News, Utne, The Oregonian, the Eugene Register Guard, Willamette Week and Portland Monthly.
Additional support has been provided by The Kinsman Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, Oregon Community Foundation, The Carl & Roberta Deutsch Foundation, Neighbors West-Northwest (Office of Neighborhood Involvement) and the Metro Central Enhancement Fund, among others.
Orlo has published and presented the work of over 2,500 writers and artists and has reached an audience exceeding 3 million.
Thank you to the many talented writers, artists, designers and editors who have contributed to making The Bear Deluxe Magazine a leading voice in environmental arts throughout the years.