Artist exhibitions in Salem this month take visitors on a trek through Portugal, shape a feeling into stone sculpture and showcase local artists.
Salem Reporter is starting a new monthly feature listing local art, history and museum exhibits open to the public. To submit your exhibit for inclusion, email Managing Editor Rachel Alexander at [email protected].
Here are July’s exhibitions in Salem.
Salem Art Association
600 Mission St. S.E.
Hours: Wednesday-Friday, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday 12 – 5 p.m.
Admission: free
ARTIST TALK: Eric Braman: Prayer to the pines
Saturday, July 29, from 6 – 7 p.m.
Eric Braman, poet, playwright and storyteller, will give a presentation and Q&A about their work, which is inspired by their time spent living in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and Michigan.
Saturday’s presentation will include narratives inspired by Braman’s 170-mile trek on the Camino Portugues, a trail in Portugal.
The presentation is part of the Salem Art Association’s Queer Artist Series. RSVP is free and available online.
PRINTMAKING SHARED: Investigation and Collaboration
Through July 30
Following their time at the artist in residence program last month where they explored each other’s printmaking methods, artists Katy Vigeland and Corrine Loomis Dietz will display their art in The Focus Gallery.
An artist talk and reception will be Friday, July 14, from 6 – 7:30 p.m.
STONE AS ART: Ripple Effect
Through Aug. 27
Curators Kentaro Kojima, Stephanie Robison, and Benjamin Mefford have brought together 19 artists for a stone sculpture exhibition. Ripple effect explores how the knowledge of the arts is passed on through mentorship and teaching.
“We three co-curators each work in multiple mediums, but it is safe to say that stone sculpture is nearest and dearest to our hearts,” they said on the association’s website. “Stone is a material that, in searching out others to learn from, has brought us into each other’s lives, and likewise served as a bridge that has connected all of the artists in the exhibition.”
ART FROM SALVAGE: The Key & The Towers
Through Aug. 26
Brothers Santigie and Sapata Fofana-Dura have shared three new sculptures crafted from wood and metal.
Using salvaged Pacific Northwest wood and intentional burning, the architectural sculptures have an intriguing finished look.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art – Willamette University
700 State St.
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 12 – 5 p.m.
Admission: $8 general, $5 seniors over 55, free to people under 17, students and members
A LIFETIME OF ENGRAVING: Jim Hibbard: Back in View
Through Aug. 12
“Back in View,” looks at the 40-year career of Jim Hibbard, a master engraver who also worked in lithography and printing.
After retiring from teaching at Portland State University, Hibbard moved to Guanajuato, Mexico, where he worked for 25 years before his death in 2022, according to the museum.
The Hallie Ford Museum will display his later work, developed in Mexico, for the first time alongside his better-known Portland pieces.
A CAREER IN SATIRICAL ART: Tom Prochaska: Music for Ghosts
Through Aug. 26
Portland Artist Tom Prochanska uses paint, drawing, prints and glasswork to explore open-ended narratives through figures in a variety of settings from cafes to desolate landscapes, in situations with humor and satire.
The exhibition, curated by Jonathan Bucci, features 70 works, including rarely seen early pieces, across 50 years. The exhibit will also have new paintings on view for the first time.
“With a wry smile, Tom tells stories that feel simultaneously vague and specific, walking a line between abstraction and representation. His imagery and compositions emerge from the interplay between material and process, lending themselves to the different mediums he effortlessly shifts between,” Bucci said in the exhibit’s description.
Salem on the Edge
156 Liberty St. N.E.
Hours: Wednesday-Thursday 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Friday-Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday 12 – 4 p.m., closed last Sunday of the month
Admission: free
LOCAL ART ON DISPLAY: Group Show
Through July 29
The show features the 24 artists the gallery represents and 10 invited artists. The artists have a variety of styles and mediums, including colorful oil paintings and interactive sculptures.
Salem Convention Center
200 Commercial Street S.E., Level 2 Gallery
Hours: Daily, 8-11 p.m.
Admission: Free
ART AND NATURE: Sense of Place
Through Sept. 15
Four Oregon artists are displaying recent paintings that feature unique perspectives on nature and the relationship between the artist and the environment.
Salem artist Nancy Lindburg’s paintings depict the Dakota prairie where she grew up. Her work accompanies that of Eugene artists Margaret Coe and Jon Jay Cruson and Portland artist Matthew Dennison.
There is a showing with the same theme at the Salem Public Library’s Art Hall, located at 585 Liberty St. S.E. The library is open Tuesday-Thursday 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Friday-Saturday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Sunday 12 – 6 p.m.
Willamette Heritage Center
1313 Mill St. S.E.
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Admission: $10 adult, $8 seniors over 65, $6 students and children age 6-17
COMMUNITY HEALTH: To Your Health
Through Oct. 7
Prompted by the renewed focus on health during the Covid pandemic, the Willamette Heritage Center invited museums and community organizations in the area to share artifacts to address questions of what it means to be healthy, and how that idea has changed over time.
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Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.
