Hallie Ford Museum of Art

05/13/2026

We're looking forward to seeing you on Thursday, May 14 from 12-3 pm for the All-Abilities Workshop.

04/28/2026

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art will be open on Friday, May 1, 2026 from 5 to 8 p.m. for First Fridays, a monthly celebration of downtown Salem that features local art, live music, pop-up events, and special deals in downtown stores and restaurants. Kick off your weekend with free admission and an evening of readings from "The Mill," Willamette’s literary magazine, from 5-7 p.m. In addition, two special exhibitions are currently on view.

"Surface Tension," which continues through May 9, 2026 in the Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery, features the artwork of senior studio art majors at Willamette University. Characterized by a wide variety of styles and approaches, the exhibition includes work in a range of media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, new media, and installation art.

"Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts Biennial," which continues through June 20, 2026 in the Study Gallery and Print Study Center, features prints by native and non-native artists created at this important printmaking atelier on the Umatilla Reservation in eastern Oregon over the past two years. Included in the exhibition are works by Marwin Begaye, James Lavadour, Wendy Red Star, and Dyani White Hawk, among others.

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art is located at 700 State Street (corner of State and Cottage Streets) in downtown Salem near the campus of Willamette University and across the street from the Oregon State Capitol and Willson Park. In celebration of First Fridays, admission to the galleries on Friday evening from 5 to 8 p.m. will be free.

For further information, please call 503/370-6855.

04/14/2026

Please join Willamette University alumna Marie Watt '92 for a free printmaking workshop this Saturday, April 18 from 1-4 pm at the Oregon State Capital. No experience is necessary, and you'll be able to take your print home on the same day.

04/08/2026

"The Studio Art major, as part of the liberal arts tradition at Willamette University, aims to foster the development of analytical skills, engagement with ideas, and the exploration of social and personal values."—Alexandra Opie and Cayla Skillen-Brauchle

Each spring, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art features the work of senior studio art majors at Willamette University. Characterized by a wide variety of styles and approaches, the exhibition includes work in a range of media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, and installation art. This year’s exhibition, "Surface Tension," opens April 11 and continues through May 9, 2026, in the Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery.

Students will have an opportunity to talk about their artwork in a series of free gallery talks during the month of April in the Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery beginning at 12 noon. The schedule of gallery talks and students is listed below:

Tuesday, April 14
Juaren Bongadillo, Fenn Corsello, Solveig Hammon, and Jonah McKrola

Thursday, April 16
Rowan Bennett, William Cooper, Lea Garcia Horenstein, Miranda Jones, and Samantha Lang

Tuesday, April 21
Sieren Ureño-Clayton, Aissatou Coyle, Beau Johnston, Elliott Mackey, and Greta Reiter

Thursday, April 23
Peyton Gardner, Henry Jensen, Christina Kroker, and Sabella Pisicolli

Tuesday, April 28
Henry Dobesh, Lea Le, Ella Rice, and Megan Rimmer

"Surface Tension," an exhibition of work by senior studio art majors at Willamette University, has been supported in part by general operating support grants from the City of Salem’s Transient Occupancy Tax fund and the Oregon Arts Commission.

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art is located at 700 State Street (corner of State and Cottage Streets) in downtown Salem near the campus of Willamette University. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 12 noon to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed on Sunday and Monday. Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for seniors (55+). Children and students (0-17) and students (18+ with ID) are admitted for free, and Tuesday is a free day.

For further information, please call 503/370-6855.

04/08/2026

Please join us tomorrow between 1-3 pm in the Maribeth Collins Lobby of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art.

03/06/2026

03/06/2026

And, to prepare you for your visit if you haven’t seen the Dan May exhibition yet, here is a great article by Oregon ArtsWatch writer David Bates. Enjoy!

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art's expansive exhibit through March 21 of the late Salem artist's enigmatic work can stop you in your tracks.

03/06/2026

During the month of March, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art will host a gallery talk in conjunction with its current exhibition "D. E. May: Postcards from Islandsalem." On Tuesday, March 10 beginning at 12:30 p.m. in the Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery, guest curator Linda Tesner will lead a walking tour of the exhibition, and on Saturday, March 21 in honor of Dan and his contribution to the visual arts ecology of Oregon, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art will offer free admission and a 10 percent discount on the accompanying Dan May book.

"D. E. May: Postcards from Islandsalem" is a forty plus year retrospective exhibition for this important Salem mixed media artist (1952-2019) who passed away in 2019 from pancreatic cancer just as he was emerging onto the national art scene. Organized by independent curator Linda Tesner, the exhibition features a range of objects created over the past four decades including collages, drawings, paintings, sculptures, templates, testbeds, and mail art, among others. The exhibition continues through March 21, 2026 at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art.

Linda Tesner is an independent curator and writer living in Portland, Oregon. She has served as the interim director of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at Portland State University and as the director and curator at the Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art at Lewis & Clark College from 1998 to 2019. She was the assistant director of the Portland Art Museum and the director of the Maryhill Museum of Art in Goldendale, Washington. She received her BA from the University of Oregon and her MA in the history of art from Ohio State University.

"D. E. May: Postcards from Islandsalem" has been supported by a gift from Pamela Johnson ‘76, through the Roger Hull Memorial Fund; with funds from the HFMA Exhibition Fund and the Maribeth Collins Art Exhibition Fund; by advertising support from The Oregonian/Here is Oregon; and by general operating support grants from the City of Salem’s Transient Occupancy Tax funds and the Oregon Arts Commission.

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art is located at 700 State Street (corner of State and Cottage Streets) in downtown Salem near the campus of Willamette University. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 12 noon to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed on Sunday and Monday. Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for seniors (55+). Children and students (0-17) and students (18+ with ID) are admitted for free, and Tuesday is a free day.

For further information, please call 503-370-6855.

Below: D. E. May (American, 1952-2019), Untitled, 2004, mixed media, 8 1/4 x 5 3/4 inches, collection of Marie Watt and Adam McIsaacs. Photo credit: Mario Gallucci.

03/06/2026

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art will be open on Friday, March 6 from 4 to 8 p.m. for First Fridays, a monthly celebration of downtown Salem that features local art, live music, pop-up events, and special deals in downtown stores and restaurants. Take this opportunity to step away from your daily schedule, reconnect with your peers, mingle with Oregon Arts Commissioners and staff from 4-6 p.m. at a special reception, and celebrate our state’s vibrant art scene and creative future.

In addition to the reception, two special exhibitions are currently on view.

"D. E. May: Postcards from Islandsalem," which continues through March 21, 2026, in the Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery, chronicles the life and art of this highly regarded mixed media artist (1952-2019), who was born in Salem and spent his entire life here, referring to it as “Islandsalem.” Included in the exhibition are collages, constructions, drawings, and templates made from wood, cardboard, old maps, postcards, city grids, and found papers.

"Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts Biennial," which continues through June 20, 2026 in the Study Gallery and Print Study Center, features prints by native and non-native artists created at this important printmaking atelier on the Umatilla Reservation in eastern Oregon over the past two years. Included in the exhibition are works by Marwin Begaye, James Lavadour, Wendy Red Star, and Dyani White Hawk, among others.

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art is located at 700 State Street (corner of State and Cottage Streets) in downtown Salem near the campus of Willamette University and across the street from the Oregon State Capitol and Willson Park. In celebration of First Fridays and the Oregon Arts Commission, admission to the galleries on Friday evening from 4 to 8 p.m. will be free.

For further information, please call 503/370-6855.

02/06/2026

I was sorry to hear that Stephan Soihl, a Portland artist and longtime supporter of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, passed away in his sleep a couple of weeks ago. I had just visited him the week before he died and was shocked to hear that he had passed away. Stephan was born in Chicago and raised in Portland. He attended the University of Washington, where he studied physics, and after a stint in the Army, returned to Portland to pursue a career in art. He attended the Pacific Northwest College of Art, where he earned his BFA degree, and Portland State University, where he earned his MFA degree. He taught for many years at Portland Community College.

In 1979, Stephan helped found Blackfish Gallery, an artist run art gallery in the Pearl District in Portland, and in 1994, he founded the Burdock-Burn Art resource, Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides grants for exhibitions that support new ideas and underrepresented artists. Over the years, Stephan provided funds to acquire close to 125 works of art from our permanent collection, and in 2002, he initiated the ray Trayle collection of prints. Ray was a retired machinist who made printing presses, and Stephan convinced a number of artists who owned Trayle presses to donate prints made on their presses to the Hallie Ford Museum of Art.

Stephan was an accomplished sculptor and watercolorist, and over the years, he donated a number of his resin sculptures, kinetic sculptures, prints, drawings, and watercolors to the permanent collection. In addition, he recently set up the Stephan Soihl Internship Fund, which provides financial support for Willamette students who wish to work in collections. Beyond being a talented artist and generous benefactor, however, he was a kind and gentle soul who spent the last ten years of his life taking care of his longtime partner Priscilla Carrasco, a talented Salem photographer who passed away last year from dementia. May Stephan's memory be eternal!

John Olbrantz
The Maribeth Collins Director