Hallie Ford Museum of Art - About HFMA - Willamette University

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Director's Message

Welcome to the Hallie Ford Museum of Art Web Site!

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art was founded in 1998 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.

From its inception, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art has been:

A place that celebrates creativity, beauty, and the human spirit as reflected in the art of other cultures, other places, and other times;
A place of discovery, wonder, mystery, and magic;
A place that celebrates and cherishes the art of our region, from the Oregon scene painters of the 1920s and 30s to the most contemporary art of our time;
A place of quiet contemplation and reflection;
A place that acknowledges the significant contribution that Native American artists have made, and continue to make, to the cultural fabric of our region;
A place that seeks to be a lively forum for the interchange of ideas;
A place that collects and preserves objects of the highest quality and seeks to safeguard those objects for future generations to come;
A place that values art and ideas and always seeks to make an original contribution to scholarship in the field;
A place that provides opportunities for learning and personal growth;
A place that is a good steward of its human and financial resources yet always maintains a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship;
A place that is energetic, lively, stimulating, challenging, thought-provoking, celebratory, and fun;
A place that brings art and people together and makes a difference in people's lives.

I hope that you enjoy our web site, and I look forward to seeing you at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art one day soon. Thank you for your interest and support!

John Olbrantz
The Maribeth Collins Director

About the Director
John Olbrantz is the Maribeth Collins Director of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, and Associate Professor of Art History, at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. He came to Willamette in June of 1998.

Throughout his career, John has held various non-profit management positions in Washington and California. From 1976-1985, he was Director of the Bellevue Art Museum in Washington, and from 1985-1987, Director of the San Jose Museum of Art in California. In 1987, he returned to his home town of Bellingham, Washington where he served as Deputy Director of the Whatcom Museum of History and Art for eleven years.

John holds a BA degree from Western Washington University and an MA degree from the University of Washington in the history of art, and a Study Certificate from the University of California, Berkeley in arts administration and management. A specialist in Roman and contemporary art, he is particularly interested in the art of Roman Britain and contemporary regional art.

Over the years, John has been involved in several major capital fund drives for expansion and renovation, has organized dozens of exhibitions of historical and contemporary art, has served as a grant reviewer for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum Services, and has juried numerous art competitions up and down the West Coast. In addition, he has lectured widely on a broad range of art topics.

From 1990-1994, John served on the Board of Directors of the Western Museums Association, and from 1991-1997, served on the Washington State Arts Commission, where he chaired the Visual Arts Committee and served on the Policy and Planning Committee. He is the recipient of a Mayor's Art Award from the City of Bellingham and was voted Newsmaker of the Year by the Bellingham Herald in 1989 for A Different War, an exhibition he organized that examined the impact of the Vietnam War on American art of the past 25 years.

John and his wife Pamela have two children, Aaron and Sarah, and live in Salem.

Jacob Lawrence
Carpenters, 1977
Lithograph on paper
Maribeth Collins Art
Acquisition Fund

art work

Clarice Dreyer
Tulips, 1995
Cast Aluminum
Maribeth Collins Art
Acquisition Fund

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Site Last Updated 04/07/2004 12:34 PM