Russell Childers: Oregon Outsider

July 30 – October 23, 2016

Study Gallery

Russell Childers (1915-1998) was a self-taught wood carver whose themes focused on memories of his mother, childhood, animals, important historical figures, Western imagery, and his life at Oregon Fairview Home in Salem, where he lived for 39 years. Organized by collection curator Jonathan Bucci, the exhibition will feature 25 wood sculptures on loan from public and private collections throughout the western United States.

Jan Zach: Works on Paper

July 30 – October 23, 2016

Print Study Gallery

Strange and Wonderful: American Folk Art from the Willem and Diane Volkersz Collection

September 17 – December 22, 2016

Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery

Willem and Diane Volkersz of Bozeman, Montana have collected folk and outsider art since the mid-1970s, amassing an extensive collection over the past forty years. This exhibition features 108 objects by 32 artists that reflect the breadth and scope of this remarkable collection.

Northwest Perspectives: Selections from the Permanent Collection

On permanent view

Carl Hall Gallery

Visitors can explore new ideas of landscape, narrative, identity, form and process through a variety of paintings, sculptures and mixed media that highlight both visual and conceptual relationships between historic and contemporary art.

The gallery provides the museum with an opportunity to share many previously unviewed works that capture the rich and varied expressions that have taken place during the past century, which has been marked by rapid changes in the art world, the Northwest and its landscape.

This gallery is named for Carl Hall (1922-1996), who taught at Willamette University for nearly 40 years and painted a luminous record of his response to the region.

View the Northwest Collection

Ancestral Dialogues: Conversations in Native American Art

On permanent view

The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Gallery

Featuring works from the museum’s permanent collection of American Indian art, this exhibition is organized around the concept of dialogue. The focus is on native art history as a dynamic, rich legacy from which contemporary arts grow today. Art works are placed in conversation, juxtaposed so that the work of many generations is in visual dialogue across time, telling stories of creation, transformation, and renewal. Historic baskets, bags, regalia, and lithics are displayed side by side with contemporary art works by artists such as Rick Bartow, James Lavadour, Bud Lane, Lillian Pitt, Pat Courtney Gold, and Joe Feddersen among many others.

Across Continents, Through Time

On permanent view

Mark and Janeth Sponenburgh Gallery

This exhibition features selections from the museum’s European, Asian, and American Collections, which span 4,500 years and encompass four continents: Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. On view are paintings, ceramics, prints, sculptures, textiles, architectural fragments, archaeological artifacts, Orthodox icons and decorative arts that will deepen visitors’ appreciation for artworks of aesthetic quality and expressive significance from cultural traditions worldwide.

Many of the works of art displayed in this gallery were generously donated to Willamette University in 1990 by Mark and Janeth Sponenburgh, and formed the basis for the creation of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art.

Print Study Center

On permanent view

Print Study Center

The museum’s collections of works on paper – prints, drawings, paintings on paper, and photographs – are stored, studied and displayed in the Print Study Center. The collection includes many contemporary American works, particularly by artists of the Pacific Northwest. Other highlights include etchings by the 17th-century Dutch artist Anthonie Waterloo, and 19th-century American expatriate artist James Abbott McNeil Whistler, as well as an early pictorial photograph by Edward Steichen. Temporary exhibitions in the Print Study Center are designed to highlight works in the permanent collection, and complement and enhance the special exhibitions on view.