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 The Hallie Ford Museum of Art(HFMA) exists to support the liberal arts curriculum of Willamette University, and to serve as an intellectual and cultural resource for the City of Salem and beyond, through the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of historical and contemporary art with an emphasis on regional art.  Willamette University, the first university in the West, was founded by Methodist missionaries in Salem, Oregon in 1842. Over the years, Willamette has developed a significant collection of European, Asian, Native American, and historic and contemporary regional art, and in 1998 opened a new facility to showcase its growing art collection. Among the first objects to enter Willamette’s art collection were Native American baskets, given to the early Methodist missionaries by Clatsop Indians on the Oregon Coast and Kalapuyan Indians in the Willamette Valley. In the 1930s, the Native American collection was significantly enhanced with the addition of several hundred baskets from E.C. Cross and M.E. Polleski, two prominent Salem collectors at the turn of the century. Over the years, a number of other objects have been donated to Willamette. These included works by Barbizon painters Camille Corot, Charles-Francoise Daubigny, Victor Dupre, and Diaz de la Pena; works by Constance Fowler and Carl Hall, both of whom taught at Willamette; a number of works by American and European artists, including James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Larry Poons; and a wide variety of works by historic and modern Oregon artists, including Harry Wentz, Louis Bunce, Jack McLarty, and Jan Zach, among others. In 1990 Mark Sponenburgh and his late wife, Janeth Hogue Sponenburgh, donated their collection of European and Asian art to Willamette. Mark taught for many years at the University of Oregon and Oregon State University and traveled extensively throughout his life. The Sponenburghs’ collection consists of approximately 250 objects, including wonderful examples of Ancient, European, Middle Eastern, and Asian art acquired during their travels. Both Mark and Janeth felt their collection would be valued and appreciated at Willamette, would not be locked away in a storage vault and rarely seen, and would be used as a teaching tool in the classroom. In 1992, Willamette alumnus Dan Schneider suggested to Professor Roger Hull that Willamette ought to have a museum of art. Dan had helped his alma mater, St. Olaf College in Minnesota, establish an art gallery and felt that Willamette, with its large and diverse collections, ought to do the same. Roger, who has taught art history at Willamette since 1970, agreed and began to quietly advocate for a museum of art on campus. In 1994, Roger made a presentation to Willamette’s Board of Trustees, and in 1995 spent a portion of his sabbatical visiting university museums of art in the East, including the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Maine and the Williams College Museum of Art in Massachusetts. Slowly, a vision for a museum of art at Willamette began to emerge, a vision based on the models that Roger had seen in the eastern United States. In 1996, a number of fortuitous events occurred that helped in the creation of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art. The US West Communications building, located on the corner of State and Cottage Streets one block from campus and two blocks from downtown, became available for sale. Originally constructed in the mid-1960s for Pacific Northwest Bell, the International style building was designed by Salem architect James Payne. It featured a screen wall of brown brick that enclosed a garden on the ground level, marble panels on the second level, and 27,000 square feet of floor space. Willamette approached long-time benefactor Hallie Ford and, through her foundation, the Ford Family Foundation in Roseburg, Oregon, she made a significant donation to acquire the building and begin the interior renovation. Once the building was purchased, Willamette hired the architectural firm of Soderstrom Architects in Portland and, under the supervision of architect Jon Wiener, began to transform the former telephone company building into a museum of art. Wiener created a series of permanent and temporary galleries, offices, a lecture hall, and work and storage spaces in the former telephone company building. He used warm colors, natural materials, and curves throughout the building to create a warm, dynamic, and lively interior space, a space that Director John Olbrantz refers to as a “jewel-box.” Moreover, by cutting windows here and there, Wiener animated every space – particularly the cubelike, double-height Atrium Gallery – by opening it up visually to every other space. As Jon and others were working on the design of the interior spaces, other donors stepped forward to lend their support. Maribeth Collins, a long time benefactor of Willamette, made a significant gift to the capital fund drive. Melvin Henderson-Rubio, a Willamette alumnus, endowed the major temporary exhibition space on the first floor. Another alumnus, who wished to remain anonymous, endowed the lecture hall on the second floor in honor of Roger Hull and his many years of service to Willamette. Slowly, enough funds were raised to complete the first two floors of the facility, and in October of 1998 the Hallie Ford Museum of Art opened for the first time. Since its inception in 1998, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art has grown by leaps and bounds. The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde endowed the Native American Gallery, and Maribeth Collins endowed the Director’s position. Significant donations have been made to the permanent collection, and a wide variety of exhibitions have been presented that have been designed to instruct and delight. Both attendance and membership are on the rise. As it enters the new millennium, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art can look forward with pride and confidence to a very bright future of service to Willamette University, the City of Salem, the mid-Willamette Valley, and beyond. |
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  Jacob Lawrence Carpenters, 1977 Lithograph on paper Maribeth Collins Art Acquisition Fund  Clarice Dreyer Tulips, 1995 Cast Aluminum Maribeth Collins Art Acquisition Fund |
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