Founded in 1937 as the Oregon Ceramics Studio, The Museum of Contemporary Craft was the oldest continuously running craft institution in the country. Throughout the years, the name of the institution changed from the Oregon Ceramics Studio (1937), to Contemporary Crafts Gallery (1965), Contemporary Crafts Museum & Gallery (2002), and Museum of Contemporary Craft (2007). The museum's collection, which represents 75+ years of craft and design works, is strongest in ceramics, particularly mid-century works by artists early in their careers, including Peter Voulkos, Robert Sperry, Patti Warashina, and Frances Senska. Thanks to its origins as a working studio in the 1930s, the collection holds a large number of early-career works from artists of both regional and international significance. In 2016, The Center for Contemporary Art & Culture at Pacific Northwest College of Art took on the stewardship of the collection after the museum closed and successfully developed a cataloging effort of all works. You can search through a digital archive of all 1,300+ pieces in the Contemporary Craft Collection. Access the Collection Browser here: https://mimi.pnca.edu/craftcollection. 

In June 2021, the Pacific Northwest College of Art merged with Willamette University making the Northwest’s oldest school of art and design an integral part of the region’s leading liberal arts university.  Along with this exciting merger of institutions, the art collection from the former Museum of Contemporary Craft has now become part of the permanent collection of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University.

The Hallie Ford Museum of Art has a long history of collecting, exhibiting, and publishing about artists associated with PNCA and the Museum Art School (as it once was known). HFMA has dedicated the past 25 years to building a collection and supporting scholarship that recognizes the importance of the art history of our region.  With the addition of the former MoCC collection to its holdings, HFMA now expands its collection to include a world class collection of craft and design that has significant connections to the development of these art forms in the Northwest. HFMA is proud to be the steward of this collection.

With funds provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2022, HFMA completed a full inventory of the collection.The museum will be engaged in strategic planning in 2023 and the vision for the future of the MoCC collection within the university and HFMA will be part of that process. We look forward to sharing more about this in the coming year.

For any inquires about the collection or general questions, please contact Jonathan Bucci, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions (jbucci@willamette.edu, (503) 370-6861) or Sara Swanborn, Registrar (sswanbor@willamette.edu, (503) 370-6915).