10 Oregon museum exhibits and events to add a little light to your winter
From Peter Marbach’s From Highway 101: Images of Oregon’s Most Iconic Highway exhibit at the Portland Historical Society
PORTLAND, Ore. — January 9, 2026
By Amy Wang | For The Oregonian/OregonLive Travel & Outdoors
The dark season has arrived, but art, culture and storytelling shine on in museums across Oregon. See what sparks light and joy for you in the offerings that follow.
PORTLAND
Psychedelicatessen: A Powerful Dose of Art by Steve Marcus is featured at Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education through May 31.Andrea Lonas
“Psychedelicatessen: A Powerful Dose of Art by Steve Marcus”: Talk about getting your groove on. New York rabbi and pop artist Steve Marcus takes a far-out approach to Jewish culture and history in this exhibit featuring hand-drawn works on paper and handmade objects. His work has been called “exuberant” (Jewish Federation of the Berkshires), “lightly subversive” (The Forward) and “quirky” (Oregon ArtsWatch). “I like to be able to represent my roots and culture,” Marcus said in a 2022 interview with the online news site Jewish Link. “At the same time, I try to make it accessible, funny. A lot of times Jewish art is so heavy; it’s too intense. And it should be fun.” Now through May 31, Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, 724 N.W. Davis St., Portland. Details: ojmche.org
“Minidoka on Our Minds”: During World War II, while the United States and Japan were at war, more than 13,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated without due process at the Minidoka War Relocation Center in southern Idaho. They were deemed a threat to national security because of their ancestry and the fact that they lived on the West Coast. (Among those at Minidoka was Minoru Yasui, an Oregon lawyer who challenged the legality of wartime curfews for Japanese Americans in a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.) In 2001, the National Park Service established the Minidoka National Historic Site to preserve its former inhabitants’ legacy and teach the importance of civil liberties. “Minidoka on Our Minds” marks 25 years of historic preservation with artwork by those who were incarcerated, their descendants and Japanese American youth. Feb. 21-June 14, Japanese American Museum of Oregon, 411 N.W. Flanders St., Portland. Details: jamo.org
Landscape with Shadows, 2021, consists of 12 iPad paintings in a single work, printed on paper, mounted on Dibond, and is featured at the Portland Art Museum.David Hockney
“David Hockney: Works from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation”: If you haven’t yet visited the renovated and reimagined Portland Art Museum, this exhibit is a great reason to get there. It’s billed as the largest North American survey exhibition of the iconic British artist’s work, with more than 100 prints, collages, drawings and other artworks spanning six decades. Expect a journey not only through subjects (California pools, English landscapes) but also mediums (Xerox prints, Polaroid photographs, iPad drawings, video). “More than any other artist, he has used technology to create art,” said Schnitzer, the Portland art collector and real estate developer behind the exhibit. Feb. 14-Aug. 26, Portland Art Museum, 1219 S.W. Park Ave., Portland. Details: https://portlandartmuseum.org/event/david-hockney/
“From Highway 101: Images of Oregon’s Most Iconic Highway”: “Oregon’s Highway 101 is more than a road,” declares the Oregon Historical Society. Indeed. One of the unique pleasures of living in Oregon is a drive along U.S. 101 on a clear day, when one natural postcard after another springs up before you. That’s the theme of the historical society’s just-opened new exhibit, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the road’s designation as a federal highway. The show features images made in the spring and summer of 2025 by Hood River photographer Peter Marbach. In an artist’s statement, Marbach wrote: “This project opened my eyes to how seamlessly this marvel of engineering blends itself into the rugged landscape of the coast.” Now through Sept. 20, Oregon Historical Society, 1200 S.W. Park Ave., Portland. Details: ohs.org
The Oregon Historical Society celebrates the 100th anniversary of U.S. 101’s designation as a federal highway in a new exhibit that includes this 1930 view of Seal Rocks from an automobile campground in Oceanside. Courtesy of Oregon Historical Society
Highway 101 was designed in a way that motorists could enjoy the natural beauty of the Oregon coast. Many sections of the highway, like the one seen here near Meyers Beach, curve close to the coastline to show beaches, haystoack rocks, and other features. Photo by Peter Marbach
OMSI After Dark: Maybe you often visited Portland’s only science museum when you had children around, but now those days are history. Or maybe you’ve always thought of it as just a kiddie place. OMSI After Dark is here to change your mind. The event series caters to the 21-and-up crowd with food, beverages and the opportunity to explore the exhibits in a more, ahem, sedate atmosphere. Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, 1945 S.E. Water Ave., Portland. Details: https://omsi.edu/whats-on/
Jan. 28: Into the Abyss offers a look at life in the oceans and is inspired by the current featured exhibit, “Monsters of the Abyss.”
Feb. 25: Fantasy & Folklore offers what the museum is calling “science for fae folk.”
SALEM
“To Catch a Thief: International Art Theft & the FBI History Talk”: The Deepwood Museum & Gardens is bringing back its History Talk series, starting with a visit from Lynne McKee, former manager of the FBI’s international art theft investigation program. During her eight years in that role, she recovered more than $300 million in art and antiquities. She’ll discuss real FBI cases and undercover operations. Feb. 7, Deepwood Museum & Gardens, 1116 Mission St. S.E., Salem. Details: deepwoodmuseum.org
“Mid-Willamette Valley Winemaking Heritage”: Get a taste of Oregon wine history at this mini-reprise of a 2021 exhibit at Willamette Heritage Center, brought to you by Linfield University’s Oregon Wine History Archive and Salem’s Honeywood Winery. “We wanted to find a way to contextualize the long history of winemaking in the Mid-Willamette Valley — the focus of our museum,” said Kylie Pine, the center’s curator and collections manager. “I think many people see the wine industry as it exists today as a new phenomenon, but the history of winemaking in our community dates back to before statehood in 1859.” Winemakers featured in the exhibit include John Force, who was making currant wine in 1857; August AuFranc, whose vineyard faced a proposed 1904 prohibition ordinance; and David Lett, of The Eyrie Vineyards. Now through Feb. 13, Willamette Heritage Center, 1313 Mill St. S.E., Salem. Details: willametteheritage.org
“D. E. May: Postcards from Islandsalem”: After Dan Earl May died of cancer in 2019, fellow artists Anna Gray and Ryan Wilson Paulsen eulogized him in Oregon ArtsWatch as “an important feature of this region’s artistic landscape and an artist fiercely admired for the things he made and the way he made them.” May himself wrote in an artist’s statement for an exhibit at PDX Contemporary Art, “In the truest moments, I don’t look at the work as something I made. I see it as something that has been here all along.” You can see for yourself at this retrospective exhibit featuring May’s work over four decades, including collages, drawings, paintings, sculptures and mail art. About that exhibit title: May lived all of his 66 years in Salem, which he dubbed “Islandsalem.” Jan. 24-March 21, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, 700 State St., Salem. Details: hfma.willamette.edu
Jan. 24: Lecture by exhibit curator Linda Tesner, 5 p.m., Willamette University College of Law, Paulus Lecture Hall, 245 Winter St. S.E., Salem.
Feb. 10: Exhibit tour with Tesner, 12:30 p.m.
Feb. 24: Panel discussion with friends of the artist, 7:30 p.m., Willamette University College of Law, Paulus Lecture Hall.
March 10: Exhibit tour with Tesner, 12:30 p.m.
March 21: Open house at May’s studio, noon-4 p.m. Reservations required; call 503-370-6855 by March 20.
“Mid-Willamette Valley Winemaking Heritage” continues through through Feb. 13 at the Willamette Heritage Center in Salem.Willamette Heritage Center
BEND
“Drawn West: A History of Promoting Place”: Maps, advertisements and art can reveal a lot about how people think of a place’s past, present and future. That’s the idea behind this exhibit at the High Desert Museum. The exhibit explores “a century of salesmanship, when artists and cartographers alike crafted an image of the West that depicted both fact and fiction,” according to the museum’s website. They did so specifically to attract people from other parts of the country, the museum’s executive director, Dana Whitelaw, told the Central Oregon Daily News: “There was a completely different agenda, if you will, to promoting this place and settling it, that was incredibly disruptive to the Native cultures that have been here since time immemorial.” Artists represented in the exhibit include Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. Through June 28, High Desert Museum, 59800 U.S. 97, Bend. Details: highdesertmuseum.org
Short Line map: Maps and their depictions of the West—both fact and fiction—are featured throughout Drawn West: A History of Promoting Place. This is the Short Line Railroad map from 1883.Courtesy of High Desert Museum
COOS BAY
“Waves of Tradition”: The United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, a milestone that inspired this exhibit at the Coos History Museum on Oregon’s south coast. “Waves of Tradition” will dive into local cultural connections to the shipbuilding and fishing industries, as well as traditional festivals, legends and superstitions, according to the museum. It is also updating many of its permanent exhibits in January. Feb. 28-Dec. 31, Coos History Museum, 1210 N. Front St., Coos Bay. Details: cooshistory.org
Waves of Tradition is on exhibit at the Coos History Museum in Coos Bay. Coos History Museum
