Permanent Exhibitions

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.

Generations: Indigenous Art from the Permanent Collection

On permanent view

The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Gallery

Featuring 82 works from the museum’s collection, this exhibition of Indigenous Art explores themes of continuity and innovation, connections and divergence, and dialogue across generations. The concept of generations echoes throughout the exhibition, referring to those born in the same era, as well as to ancestors, future descendants, and the very process of creating; it implies inheritance received and legacy bestowed. GENERATIONS is anchored by a large display of Northwest Coast carving, as well as sections devoted to Oregon’s nine federally recognized tribes, Plateau art, and contemporary Indigenous artists. Northwest Coast masks and other carvings, historic and contemporary basketry and beadwork, ceremonial regalia, painting, prints, and sculpture are among the works on view.

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.

Point of View

Past Exhibition

Landing to the second floor

In this ongoing exhibition series, we invite members of the Willamette community to share their experience or interpretation of a work of art from the perspective of their area of expertise, study, or research. Each semester we will offer a new work, and a new "point of view."