Native American Prints Featured at Hallie Ford Museum of Art

An exhibition of contemporary prints, created by Native American artists at the Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts on the Umatilla Reservation in northeastern Oregon, is on display Oct. 11 through Dec. 21 in the Study Gallery at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University.

As a special feature, artists George Flett and Jeremy Red Star Wolf, both featured in the exhibition, will discuss their work in a free lecture Nov. 8 from 2–3 p.m. in the Roger Hull Lecture Hall at the museum. A reception will follow in the lobby.

The Second Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts Biennial, organized by faculty curator Rebecca Dobkins and Crow’s Shadow master printer Frank Janzen, features work created in the past few years by a wide variety of artists from throughout the U.S., including Rick Bartow, Phillip John Charette, George Flett, James Lavadour, Larry McNeil and Jeremy Red Star Wolf, among others. A number of printmaking techniques are represented, including lithography, woodcut and monotype.

Founded in 1992 by Native American painter and printmaker James Lavadour, the Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts seeks to create educational and professional opportunities for Native American artists to use their art as a vehicle for economic development. Housed in the historic St. Andrew’s Mission schoolhouse, the facility features a state-of-the-art printmaking studio, classroom, computer lab, library and gallery space.

The exhibition is supported by an endowment gift from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde through the Spirit Mountain Community Fund, and by the Indian Country Conversations Series at Willamette University. Additional support has been provided by 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 St. (corner of State and Cottage streets) in downtown Salem near the campus of Willamette University. Hours are Tuesday–Saturday from 10 a.m.–5 p.m., and Sunday from 1–5 p.m. The galleries are closed on Monday. Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for seniors and students. Children younger than 12 are admitted free, and Tuesday is an admission-free day. For more information, call (503) 370-6855 or visit www.willamette.edu/museum_of_art.

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Willamette Olympian to be Honored at Football Game

Willamette University will honor Olympic 800-meter runner Nick Symmonds '06 during halftime at the Willamette versus Lewis & Clark College football game Saturday, Oct. 11. After being honored, Symmonds will be available to sign autographs.

The Willamette Bearcats and the Lewis & Clark Pioneers will kick off Saturday's game at 1:30 p.m. at McCulloch Stadium. The WU football team, ranked #18 by the American Football Coaches Association and #21 in the D3Football.com Top 25, is 5-0 on the season.

Symmonds, who won a total of seven NCAA Division III national championships in the 800-meter run and the 1,500-meter run while attending Willamette, reached the semifinal heats of the 800 this past summer at the Beijing Olympics. He won his preliminary heat in a time of 1:46.01. He finished fifth in his semifinal heat in 1:46.96.

His career-best time in the 800 of 1:44.10 was recorded during his exciting win at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., earlier in the summer. Symmonds, running for the Oregon Track Club/Nike, claimed victory by nearly a second and was just .09 seconds off the Hayward Field record.

What fans will remember, however, is his tremendous comeback during the race. Symmonds was in sixth place and appeared to be boxed in with about 100 meters remaining. Even so, he closed with the powerful kick that is his trademark, as he worked his way forward on the outside, then returned to the inside lane.

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Author to Address ‘Deep Structure of the Arts’

Ellen Dissanayake, an independent scholar who explores the idea that the arts are inherent features of human nature, will deliver the Hogue-Sponenburgh Lecture at 8 p.m. Oct. 9 in Cone Chapel at Willamette University. The event is free and open to the public.

Dissanayake, affiliate professor in the School of Music at the University of Washington, will address “The Deep Structure of the Arts.” Linguists and music theorists describe the “deep structure” of language and music, referring to the innate rules followed by speakers of all languages or music’s underlying structure of chords and rhythmic patterns. Dissanayake says a similar idea applies to the arts, where the underlying principles of our nature as humans influence the making of our own arts and our responses to the works of others.

Dissanayake’s original “adaptationist” or Darwinian approach draws upon the years she lived and worked in non-Western countries, including Sri Lanka, Nigeria, India, Madagascar and Papua New Guinea. She has published three books: What is Art For? (1988), Homo Aestheticus: Where Art Comes From and Why (1992) and Art & Intimacy: How the Arts Began (2000). She has addressed audiences nationally and internationally on biomusicology, human ecology and comparative literature, developmental psychology and other topics.

The Hogue-Sponenburgh art lectureship, established and endowed by the late Janeth Hogue-Sponenburgh and Mark Sponenburgh, enables the Willamette University Department of Art and Art History to bring a noted scholar, artist, critic, curator or art leader to campus each year to deliver a lecture and to meet informally with students and faculty. For more information, contact Andries Fourie at (503) 370-6258 or afourie@willamette.edu.

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Willamette Scores High on Sustainability Report Card

A 2009 report card from the Sustainable Endowments Institute gave Willamette University an “A” and named it a leader for its sustainability efforts in food and recycling, green building and investment priorities. Willamette’s overall score of a “B” was higher than any other small liberal arts college in the Pacific Northwest.

The College Sustainability Report Card evaluates sustainability initiatives from the 300 colleges with the largest endowments in the U.S. and Canada.

Willamette was recognized as a leader for reducing waste and purchasing food from local, organic farmers; following green building guidelines for all new construction and renovations; and aiming to optimize investment return and investing in renewable energy funds. The university also scored high and was singled out as a leader for its administration’s efforts.

This is the second time in recent months that Willamette’s initiatives have been recognized nationally. In the country’s largest survey to date, the National Wildlife Federation recognized Willamette as first in the nation for sustainability activities.

Read the entire report card at www.greenreportcard.org. To learn more about Willamette’s sustainability efforts, go to www.willamette.edu/about/sustainability.

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Regalia Exhibition Includes Teacher Workshop and Gallery Talks

In conjunction with its fall exhibition, The Art of Ceremony: Regalia of Native Oregon, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University will host free gallery talks and a workshop for teachers interested in bringing their classes to see the exhibition.

Elizabeth Garrison, the museum’s Cameron Paulin Curator of Education, will teach the workshop Oct. 1 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the museum. The purpose is to help teachers prepare students for a field trip to the museum, develop strategies to tour the exhibition, and propose ideas that reinforce the gallery experience and broaden curriculum concepts back in the classroom. The workshop is free, but advance registration is required by calling (503) 370-6855.

The museum also will host a series of free gallery talks about the exhibition. Garrison or a museum docent will lead talks Tuesdays, Sept. 30 through Jan. 13, from 12:30 to 1 p.m. Willamette University students will present talks Saturdays in October from 1 to 1:30 p.m.

The Art of Ceremony: Regalia of Native Oregon, on display Sept. 28 through Jan. 18, is a major exhibition of historic and contemporary regalia from all nine of Oregon’s federally recognized Native American tribes, much of which is rarely seen by the general public. Organized by Willamette Anthropology Professor Rebecca Dobkins in partnership with the tribes, the exhibition is designed to introduce non-tribal audiences to the history, beauty and function of regalia within tribal life and thought.

The Oregon Arts Commission, with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, selected the exhibition as the state’s 2008 American Masterpieces project. Additional support has been provided by an endowment gift from The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde through the Spirit Mountain Community Fund, and by grants from the Siletz Tribal Charitable Fund, the City of Salem’s Transient Occupancy Tax funds, the Oregon Arts Commission, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and a Millicent McIntosh Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation.

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art is located at 700 State St. (corner of State and Cottage streets) in downtown Salem near the campus of Willamette University. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed Mondays. Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for seniors and students. Children younger than 12 are admitted free, and Tuesdays are admission-free. For more information, call (503) 370-6855 or visit www.willamette.edu/museum_of_art.

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