The Hallie Ford Museum of Art

I was in town on a Tuesday and was lucky to have an hour and a half free to truly enjoy every exhibit. The diversity of the art, medium, influence, and sculpture left me very impressed. Inspired.

One of the best small art museums I’ve ever visited. We brought our 4 children ages 6-15, and they all found things to enjoy and appreciate. We saw the Singular exhibit featuring neurodivergent artists, and our kids loved looking at the creative pieces up close (safely behind glass of course). The historic art area was excellent as well, I loved how they have the Ancient Greek and Roman coins set up so that you can see both sides up close with a magnifying glass.

Very lovely museum in Sale. Takes about 30 minutes to see everything

We adore this small museum that features terrific NW artists. This time Brenda Mallory’s constructed artwork was featured. We’ve previously visited to see Lucinda Parker paintings, Peter Voulkos ceramics, and a magnificent PNW basketry and carving exhibition. Well worth the effort to visit.

Well curated, manageable in size, nice collection. Worth a visit. (We were there over spring break with the kids and admission was free to all!)

Thoroughly enjoyed the current exhibits as well as the permanent collections. Excellent museum with great art pieces and well laid out.

Wonderful art museum. Surprisingly large with a great permanent collection. We saw a chihuley exhibit that was fantastic. We even saw what's supposed to be the worlds oldest coin!

The exhibits are extraordinary. They are further enhanced by the excellent layout, grouping, spacing, and helpful commentary. If I lived here, I would come often. This is a must experience when you visit the area.

What a wonderful surprise here at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art. Really unique exhibits and even a few from seniors students at neighboring Willamette University - we must have timed it right because entry was free the day we attended! It looks deceivingly small from the outside but there are two levels and many rooms of exhibits. It also has a small gift shop at the entry.

Willamette University is one of Oregon's surviving private universities. So it has wealthy and connected alumni. That enables a small museum worth a visit. From gifts they have put together a good contemporary collection, a regional native collection, art by regional art school grads of the last about 30 years, ancient art, religious art, and a works on paper archive. It can be used as a teaching museum and welcomes school groups. Wealthy art collectors have tax accountants who have discovered that if they buy an expensive work of art in a sales tax state, loan it to a museum in a non-sales state, like Oregon, the tax is waived. The Portland Art Museum has been able to show multi-million dollar works that way. So it was a pleasure to come across some new Damien Hirst originals on the wall - they weren't yet even labeled. Hirst is the shark man from the UK. He was an art student at London's Goldsmiths and organized the first Young British Artists (YBA) show, Freeze. It was seen by a famous advertising agency founder who gave Hirst, then 26, a 50,000 Pound grant to make a new work without restrictions. The work ended up being the The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living - a shark in formaldehyde. It last sold for 12 million. After in his substance abuse period, he visited a friend's home. She was married to a wealthy Dallas doctor, their house was filled with free pharmaceutical samples from drug companies. That inspired Hirst to straighten out and create his seminal Pharmacy series at age 27. At age 30 he won the Turner Prize. Hirst, now in his 60s, is a polarizing figure and likely the wealthiest living artist today. But he is a hard worker and evolves new work, originals, multiples, and even wallpaper. The Halle Ford Museum has on loan, for the purpose of the owner's tax savings, 3 of Hirst's Sea Paintings: Coast Paintings and Seascapes. They are abstract colorful splatter paintings on dark grey canvas that would be proud in a contemporary living room. You can look up videos on the making of the series, his Instagram, and articles on him and his works. The Portland Art Museum had a similar loan of Hirst's Cherry Blossoms a few years ago. His splatter and spin paintings do fall into the "my kid could make that" realm. So get you kid to work following Hirst's career to support you! There is an admission, but it is reasonable if the works they hold are interesting to you. The website details the admission. It would be good for older children interested in art. It is across the street from the Oregon Capital with acres of street parking and an underground garage. Parking can be busy when the legislature is in session. Willamette University merged with Portland's PNCA, with university art colleges in both Salem and Portland. The Halle Ford is Oregon's other art museum, joining the Portland Art Museum and the Schnitzer museums rotating shows at PSU & UO. It is a well-organized small museum telling the story of art and sometimes holds nice surprises.

I visited this museum again after 4 or 5 years, after they began allowing visitors in February. They are doing timed entry tickets, so you will have to plan ahead. But according to their website, walk-in entries may be accommodated based on availability and capacity. The process of buying tickets online was quick and easy. The permanent galleries had been updated since my last visit to include new and more recent art. A lot of my favorites were still on display, especially upstairs in the galleries focusing on historical art from around the world. At the time I went, there was a exhibit on Northwest Public Art in the 1930s and an exhibit on Islamic Coins. Both were interesting and worthwhile. This museum is still a small treasure in this city!

Identifying as a museum can raise expectations of a building's contents. Unfortunately, the Hallie Ford Museum of Art is rather a smattering of art and artifacts. Take those expectations down a few levels -- okay, probably a number of levels -- and it's possible to find a visit here worthwhile. There are some challenges to enjoy what is on display. The galleries -- the few that there are -- are low-ceilinged and border on the claustrophobic. Trying to stand back from a work to get a better perspective is often impossible. The lighting is atrocious and it makes trying to see some pieces quite frustrating. The small gallery featuring rather average Egyptian, Greek and Roman art is so blindingly yellow (between the wall paint and lighting) that it's only possible to see the true color of some pieces by taking photos then doing some post-production work in photo software later. So why visit? Well, there is a good Corot landscape mixed in with some dull paintings. The quality of the pieces in the Northwest cultures gallery lifts this museum entirely. Some of the baskets are incredibly beautiful. These alone are what made the visit satisfying for me.

One of the top five museums I've had the pleasure of visiting. Excellent content and presentation - this is clearly a museum where art is not only displayed to be seen but to be thought about. I love the exhibit where art is presented in chronological context from ancient Egypt to modern. There are a lot of great pieces there. The native American exhibit is world-class. A couple of interesting perspectives were installed at the time we went, too. The pumice squirrel at the entrance desk is awesome. If you're in Salem and you like art - any kind of art, really - go to the Hallie Ford museum. Set aside at least a couple of hours.

It looks small from outside but it's big inside! Certainly for the city of this size, Hallie Ford Museum is world-class in quality and collections. There are two special exhibitions and several other rooms dedicated to the permanent collections. The permanent collections include European art (including medieval and ancient Christian art such as icons, statues, and even the real Denarius and Drachma coins mentioned in the New Testament!!), Asian art (Gandhara buddhas, Chinese artifacts from Tang to Qing eras, Japanese art from the Tokugawa shogunate period, and Koryo-era ceramics from Korea), First Nations art (both traditional and contemporary), and of course the Pacific Northwest modern art. This museum is packed with so much, plan to spend at least an hour to go through all this. Located across the street from the Oregon State Capitol complex and two blocks from the Cherriots station, this is a must-see place in Salem! (Tuesdays are free days. As of June 1, 2022 timed entry tickets are no longer needed.)

Affordable art museum that is neither too big and overwhelming nor too small. We enjoyed the current exhibit about the Antarctica glaciers. Friendly and helpful art docent at the front counter, easy street parking.

As first time visitor, it was a lovely relaxed environment with a surprising assortment of local artists including Native artists. Webpage details what is currently on display. Check that out ahead of time to see it fits your interest Low cost to enter, I highly recommend for people of all ages. Will be visiting again soon.

Go here on Tuseday's and it's free. Leave a small donation in the clear pot. They change up there theme every few months

Small mini museum, was told it was pretty good, took my kids and they were thru it in 15 mins, not much interested them. I found some of the art interesting, but not really worthly of a return or recommendation. Entrance fee was very reasonable, people very helpful, but over all, nice but not exceptional.

This is a unique art museum; it looks like its pretty small and yet it has a ton of exhibits and different works of art and sculpture. I've only been here once for about 2 hours and I could've stayed a couple of more to see everything and read the history. Great job!

I do a tour about twice a year or if I hear of a special exhibition. Parking right out front is almost always available @ $1.50/hr. You pay at a machine which takes coins or Visa/MC. Tuesdays admission is free. For a provincial museum, quite well done---a significant contribution to the Salem scene. Curating ebbs and flows. Displays can stagnate, or schlock makes an appearance, or something objectively worthwhile comes to Salem. The standing collection on the ground floor really should be rotated with what is in storage more often. The distinguished work of Helen Blumenstiel, once head of the art department at Linfield, has not been on the wall for over 15 years. On the second floor, the Sponenburgh collection does not seem to me to change much. It rewards a first visit, depending upon your interests, but grows old with repeat visits. I agree that the print room almost always has something interesting to view. Your reaction to the wing devoted to Native American art, which appears unchanging, will be a matter of personal taste. Usually traditional crafts, like basketry, wear well with viewers.

What treasure to have in Salem. Whenever we have out of town visitors we always try to take them to Hallie Ford. The featured exhibits change on a regular basis, so check the web site.

Went with a friend and had no idea this place even existed! Beautiful displays and art that I never would have expected.

Haven't gone in a while but they used to do these scavenger hunts for the kids that were pretty fun, also had a free day on tuesdays..nice way to get people in to do something other than stare at their phones.

This is a little gem. We discovered it a while ago when they had an outstanding exhibit of early Italian drawings. Their permanent collection includes a Native American collection , and NW artists. They have an excellent print collection and surprises a such as a painting and photograph by Edward Steichen and a collection of works by Jacob Lawrence. Their special exhibitions are very well curated. Well worth a visit.

For Salem, I was surprised about the quality of this museum...as its like some secret treasure that the city is hiding. Sure it's not a huge museum...but its big enough to spend a few hours in. And like I said, it always feels as if you have the museum completely to yourself...which is so nice. This is a part of the Willamette U campus, I believe, and so they run it nicely. Worth a visit!