Halle Ford Museum Salem, Oregon

Halle Ford Museum is housed on the campus of Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. We thought a visit there would be an interesting way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The featured artist currently is Fay Jones. While she is popular in the Pacific Northwest, I guess her work was beyond me.

I found a second floor permanent display of woven baskets by native American artists far more intriguing. The basket project is a joint venture with the backing of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde. There may be 50 or more baskets on display.

The opening panels start out by clearing the air. Willamette University was founded by people who believed that Native Americans were in need of rescue and civilization. This, of course, is a view Native Americans did not and do not share.

Willamette University, however, did come into possession of a very large collection of baskets from the earliest days of visits by white settlers. These baskets were major containers for various activities and are great works of art with materials processed with skills surpassing many big name artists of our day. Like, say, Fay Jones.

The University, the Museum and the Confederated Tribes have worked to identify the sources of the baskets from the various tribes of the Pacific Northwest. Expert archaeologists and other social scientists have brought a good deal of order to the collection, though of course, much of the information about the artists themselves is lost to history.

Stop by this little museum and take a look. It's right behind the Oregon State capitol on State Street.