Hallie Ford Museum of Art Announces 2008–09 Exhibitions

A wide variety of exhibitions are planned at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art for 2008–09, Museum Director John Olbrantz announced recently.

Major exhibitions scheduled for the Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery include:

Michael Dailey: Color, Light, Time, and Place (June 7–Aug. 31). Michael Dailey is a Seattle abstract painter and professor emeritus from the University of Washington. His work focuses on the deconstruction of the landscape to its basic elements of horizon, color, light and atmosphere. The exhibition features 44 paintings and works on paper, spanning a 45-year period, drawn from public and private collections throughout the region.

The Art of Ceremony: Regalia of Native Oregon (Sept. 28, 2008–Jan. 18, 2009). This exhibition features historic and contemporary regalia from native Oregon, offering visitors a rare glimpse at the beauty, history and meaning of regalia in tribal life and thought. Included are objects made of buckskin and beadwork from the Plateau region of eastern Oregon, objects with condor feathers from the Columbia River Gorge, and objects with feather and abalone shell decoration from the Oregon Coast. The exhibition was chosen as Oregon’s 2008 American Masterpieces project and was awarded $50,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Harry Widman: Image, Myth, and Modernism (Jan. 31–March 29, 2009). Harry Widman is a Portland painter and professor emeritus from the Pacific Northwest College of Art. The exhibition surveys his career over a 60-year period in works that explore the possibility of a “meaningful shape” in abstract painting, the role myth can play in contemporary expression, and the interplay between the physical strength of the athlete and the intellectual delicacy of the poet or philosopher in expressionist modern art.

Senior Art Majors (April 11–May 10, 2009). Each spring, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art features the work of senior art and art history majors at Willamette. The exhibition includes work in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, ceramics, photography and mixed media. In addition, the exhibition features senior theses in art history.

James Thompson: The Vanishing Landscape (April 11–May 10, 2009). This exhibition focuses on a body of work that the artist has been developing for some time exploring the transformation of the rural western U.S. Thompson holds an MFA degree from Washington University in St. Louis and has been on the art faculty at Willamette University since 1986.

Smaller exhibitions scheduled for the Study Gallery include Adam Bacher: Earth, Water, and Sky (May 24–July 27); The Collector’s Eye: Contemporary Art from the Leo Michelson Collection (Aug. 2–Oct. 5); The Second Crow’s Shadow Institute for the Arts Biennial (Oct. 11–Dec. 21); Mary Randlett: Artist Portraits (Jan. 10–March 8, 2009); and From Hestia’s Sacred Fire to Christ’s Eternal Light: Ancient and Medieval Lamps from the Bogue Collection (March 14–May 17, 2009).

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art is located at 700 State St. (corner of State and Cottage streets) in downtown Salem near the campus of Willamette University. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. The galleries are closed on Monday. Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for seniors and students. Children younger than 12 are admitted free, and Tuesday is an admission-free day. For more information, call (503) 370-6855 or visit www.willamette.edu/museum_of_art.

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Student Newspaper Wins Top Awards

The Willamette University student newspaper, the Collegian, won the prestigious award for General Excellence in the Collegiate Newspaper Contest. The competition was sponsored by the Oregon Newspaper Publishing Association.

The Collegian also won awards in the following categories:

Best Writing, Tatiana Mac
“NY Times’ assoc. editor reveals secrets, protects civil liberties”
“Explore the unexpected”
“Blind grading ensures objectivity”
http://www.willamettecollegian.com/?s=tatiana+mac&submit=search

Best News Story, Lauren Gold
“Students mourn sudden death of Kaneko cook”
http://www.willamettecollegian.com/2007/12/05/students-mourn-sudden-death-of-kaneko-cook/

Best Editorial, Collegian Editorial Board
“The cost of education”
http://www.willamettecollegian.com/2008/01/23/the-cost-of-education/

Best Columnist, Tom Ackerman
Opinions section
http://www.willamettecollegian.com/?s=tom+ackerman&submit=search

Best Sports Photo, Stephen Scott
Photo of Willamette Rugby Club

Best Cartooning, Patrick Willgohs

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Willamette University Honors the Class of 2008

Willamette University will bid adieu to the Class of 2008 in four commencement ceremonies Sunday, May 11.

The College of Liberal Arts commencement begins at 3 p.m. on The Quad. The Atkinson Graduate School of Management ceremony is at 9:30 a.m. in Hudson Hall, and the College of Law commencement is at 11:30 a.m. on The Quad. The School of Education ceremony is at 11 a.m. in Smith Auditorium.

The College of Liberal Arts will honor 500 students with bachelor’s degrees. The College of Law will award 114 JD and LLM degrees, and the School of Education will award 101 MAT degrees. Atkinson will recognize 47 early career MBA graduates (18 professional MBA graduates were honored in January).

Helen Vendler, the A. Kingsley Porter University Professor at Harvard and a well-recognized poetry critic, will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters and deliver the CLA commencement address. The Honorable Wallace P. Carson Jr., former Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court and a 1962 College of Law graduate, will receive an honorary doctor of laws.

Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul DeMuniz, a 1975 College of Law graduate, will deliver the law commencement address, and Jack McGowan, recently retired executive director of SOLV, will speak at the Atkinson ceremony.

For more information on Willamette’s commencement activities, go to www.willamette.edu/events/commencement/.

Update: Jonathan Kozol, a longtime educator and social justice advocate who was scheduled to receive an honorary degree and speak at the School of Education commencement, has canceled his appearance due to medical reasons. The School of Education speaker will be Dean Nakanishi '98, MAT'00, who teaches in a special education academy near Seattle and has researched and lectured on the history of Salem Japanese-American students sent to internment camps during World War II.

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University Hosts Urban Earth, Art and Music Festival

The 10th annual Wulapalooza, Willamette University’s free music, art and Earth festival, will be held Saturday, April 26, on Brown Field.

Associated Students of Willamette University present the festival, which begins at noon with the main music stage opening at 5 p.m. This year’s featured performers are Mobius Band from New York, and Portland bands The Blow, Blitzen Trapper and Panther. Other stages will feature performances from local and student-organized bands, a student art show and other activities.

Each year Wulapalooza includes a fundraiser for a local charitable foundation. This year the event will sponsor the Marion-Polk Food Share. The event is free, but canned food or monetary donations for the food share are welcome.

This year Wulapalooza celebrates its 10th anniversary. In the past decade, the event has evolved from a small festival providing a creative outlet for students on campus into a community event that brings in nationally recognized talent.

The festival seeks to provide a venue for community members to visit Willamette’s campus, familiarize themselves with student organizations and be the university’s guests for a day of music, art and entertainment.

For more information, call the Office of Student Activities at (503) 370-6463 or visit www.willamette.edu/org/wulapalooza.

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Oregon Secretary of State Presents 'Global Warming and its Impact on Oregon'

Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, who completed a rigorous training program led by former Vice President Al Gore, will give a free presentation about issues and solutions surrounding global warming Monday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. in Smith Auditorium at Willamette University.

Bradbury was part of a group of 50 individuals chosen to receive intensive training by Gore and a team of renowned scientists about global warming issues. Each received technical training to become experienced presenters of a version of Gore’s computer-based slide show, which became the basis of his best-selling book and documentary film, “An Inconvenient Truth.”

His Willamette visit is sponsored by Associated Students of Willamette University, Willamette Events Board and The New York Times.

“Bill Bradbury is an outstanding example of the millions of Americans who have been energized by the call to action on the climate crisis,” Gore said. “Bill will be spending the next year making presentations in and around Oregon discussing how individuals and businesses, schools and other organizations can be a major part of the solution to the growing crisis of global warming.”

Sallie Schullinger-Krause, the Oregon Environmental Council’s Global Warming Program Manager, said: “Bill Bradbury has become Oregon’s leader in global warming outreach. Not only has he tailored his presentation to include the very real effects of climate change on Oregon, but he has developed tools to help his audiences become part of the solution.”

The Oregon Environmental Council safeguards what Oregonians love about Oregon — clean air and water, an unpolluted landscape and healthy food produced by local farmers. For nearly 40 years the council has been a champion for solutions that protect the health of all Oregonians and the place they call home. Its vision for Oregon includes solving global warming, protecting children from toxins, cleaning up rivers, building sustainable economies, and ensuring healthy food and local farms. Find out more at www.oeconline.org.

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