MASKS AT THE HULT CENTER IN EUGENE, OREGON, Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

Mythical Masks by M. Nelson & L. Bowers at the Hult Center in Eugene, Oregon

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, took the photos in this post in November 2025 when she went to a Eugene Symphony concert. "We arrived early and I love looking at the masks in the performing arts center. So I zipped around snapping pictures! This is a permanent display, so it is available year round as long as the building stands." 

Mask display at the Holt Center.

If you like masks or if you enjoy seeing how differently different artists can respond to the same challenge, you might like the permanent display at the performing arts center in Eugene, Oregon. Rows of masks by many creators line the walls of the stair landings to the mezzanine and balcony.

The Hult Center opened in 1982, the first performing arts center in the United States built without state or federal funding—with community funding only. It is the home of four resident companies (ballet and concert). Its roofline evokes the nearby Cascades Mountains and its beams of Douglas fir, the local forests. Blue stair railings symbolize local rivers. Public art graces interior spaces: statues, paintings, and sculptures, including masks, the focus of this blog post.

Eartist created a series of about six to nine masks, which are variations on a theme under a single title. My photos show only two or three examples of each artist’s works. The above photo shows some of the Masks by Laura Wuori.

Above: some of the Raku Life Masks by Dan Corbin.

 

Above: some of the Clay Masks by Claire Barr.

Above: some of the Chorus by Anita Griffith, the most hilarious series!

Above: some of the Masks by Eric Gronborg.

Above: some of the Stylized Masks by Susan St. Michael.

Above: some of the Faces by Mike Imes.

Just when I thought I had photographed samples of every mask artist’s work on display, I would come around a corner and discover another series, and another one.

Above is my favorite, one of the Mythical Masks by M. Nelson & L. Bowers, because the mouth is genius: echoing the lines and angles of the overall star design perfectly, and unmistakably shouting for joy, despite its unnatural shape.