Hallie Ford Museum of Art

Hallie Ford exhibits collections of both art and historical artifacts with a focus on Oregon related pieces of art and artists in the 27000 sqft facility. The museum also hosts various traveling exhibits in two of its six galleries.

• Name — Hallie Ford Museum of Art • Established — 1998 • Location — Salem, Oregon, United States • Type — private: art • Visitors — 30,000 (2003) • Director — John Olbrantz • Website — willamette.edu/arts/hfma

• Illustration — North side of the museum with main entrance Prior to the creation of the Hallie Ford Museum, Willamette University previously collected various pieces of art donated to the university. By 1896 the collections were housed in a museum located on the fourth floor of Waller Hall. By 1940 the museum had moved to the second floor of the gymnasium (now the Theatre Playhouse). At that time the museum's collection included birds, various documents, minerals, wood specimens, shells, plant specimens, and Native American artifacts, among others. In 1990, the school received a donation of around 250 pieces of ancient, European, Middle Eastern, and Asian art from the Sponenburgh family. Alumnus Dan Schneider suggested to an art faculty member, Roger Hull, that the school should have a museum to display the university's art collection in 1992. Then in 1994 Roger Hull made a presentation to the school's trustees to push for the creation of an art museum. Over the next two years plans were developed and donations were made that led to the purchase of a building near campus for a museum. One large donation came from Hallie Ford and the Ford Family Foundation that allowed the purchase and remodel to move forward. The museum officially opened in 1998 with over 3,000 pieces of art, and was the second largest art museum in the state at that time. The museum was named top fine arts venue and art gallery in the local region in 2002 by residents. In 2003, the facility received a Certificate of Award from the Oregon Art Education Association, and was named as the third best art gallery in Oregon's mid-Willamette Valley region. Attendance at the museum was approximately 16,000 in the first full-year of operation and increased to around 30,000 people per year in 2003. In July 2007, the museum began a remodeling project to add storage to the basement areas and the room used for studying prints. The $850,000 remodel was completed in December 2007 with funding coming from a donation by Maribeth Collins. Also in 2007, Hallie Ford Museum of Art was given an American Masterpieces grant by the National Endowment for the Arts through the Oregon Arts Commission. This $50,000 grant helped to fund an exhibit entitled "The Art of Ceremony" regarding tribal ceremonies of Native American tribes in Oregon. The museum introduced the "Breath of Heaven, Breath of Earth" exhibit in 2013, which was billed as its most ambitious exhibit. The museum is part of the Monuments Men and Women Museum Network, launched in 2021 by the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art.

The building housing the museum was built in 1965 for Pacific Northwest Bell. This International Style building contains 27000 sqft on three floors (two above ground), and was designed by local architect James L. Payne. In 1996, the building then owned by US West Communications was purchased by the university. Willamette then remodeled the building during 1997 to 1998 with the design coming from Jon Wiener of Soderstrom Architects of Portland, Oregon. • Illustration — Entrance to the museum The building opened on October 3, 1998, with a two-story atrium gallery, curves located throughout the interior space, marble panels, and an enclosed garden on the exterior. Additionally, the brick faced structure has an exterior patio constructed of slate. There are a total of six galleries at the museum, with four used for permanent collections and two galleries used for traveling exhibits. In 2008, colored reflector panels were added to the narrow second floor windows in order to provide more color to the exterior. Measuring 69.5 inches high by 21.75 inches wide, some of the panels are illuminated from the interior.

• Illustration — Toi Maori: The Eternal Thread Seattle painter Michael Spafford's works were featured in a 1999 show HFMA. In 2005, the museum displayed a retrospective of Portland artist Michael Brophy. The museum held a show in 2007 featuring work by Oregon painter Amanda Snyder. Other exhibits have included shows on Rick Bartow, Jacob Lawrence, David Giese, Fay Jones, Eunice Parsons, David Gilhooly, Mary Lou Zeek, and Robert Hess among other artists. HFMA has also hosted traveling exhibits on Egyptian art in 2002, was one of three U.S. stops for the "Toi Maori: The Eternal Thread" exhibit, exhibited a collection of ancient glass work in 2007, and displayed an exhibit on ancient Roman and Greek artifacts. In 2011, AMERICANA by Ross Palmer Beecher was exhibited in the Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery.

Hallie Ford was one of the founders of the Ford Family Foundation. She graduated from East Central University in Oklahoma and moved to Oregon after graduation. Ford became a trustee at Willamette University in 1975. She was the wife of Kenneth W. Ford and they built Roseburg Forest Products Company in Roseburg, Oregon, beginning in 1936. From this they later started a foundation that would grow to become the Ford Family Foundation in 1996. Ford died on June 4, 2007, at age 102.