Author: bhmsalem

HERITAGE TALK – HELP WANTED: THE WORKING HANDS OF THE BUSH HOUSE

Posted on by bhmsalem in Events

Sunday, March 1, 2026 from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
| BUSH HOUSE MUSEUM

We are excited to kick off 2026 with a new lecture series, Heritage Talks. This series offers a deeper look into the rich history of the Bush House Museum.

Join our speaker, Bill Galbraith, to hear compelling stories of the immigrants and others who lived and worked in and around Bush House and Salem at the turn of the 20th century.

Date: Sunday, March 1, 2026

Time: The talk will begin promptly at 1:30pm and will conclude at 2:30pm.

Location: Bush House Museum, Mission Street Southeast, Salem, OR, USA

Tickets
About the presenter:

Bill is a volunteer docent at Bush House Museum who has always been interested in history, especially in the lives of common people in the past.  His curiosity about the life experiences of working women and men employed at Bush House led him to do research with Bush House staff.

Tickets

This talk is capped at 25 guests, so please be sure to register to hold your spot! 

In order to plan for our talk, please register by Friday, February 27 at 4pm; we will close the registration page after that time and we can not accommodate walk-ups for this talk.

The recommended ticket price is $20. Our ticket fees directly support the work we are doing at Bush House Museum. Please consider adding an additional donation in support.

*At the Salem Art Association, we prioritize inclusivity. To ensure that our arts and culture events remain accessible to all, we have set aside a limited number of free tickets. Please reach out to laura@salemart.org if you would like a promo code to waive the admission fee.

Bush House Museum Tour: Sally Bush – Renaissance Woman of Salem

Posted on by bhmsalem in Events, Past show and installations

SunDAY, JanUARY 11, 2026 from 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. | BUSH HOUSE MUSEUM

Join us on this special tour to learn about Sally Bush, a Renaissance woman of Salem who served as lady of the Bush House.

She was also an accomplished photographer, gardener, animal lover, art patron, philanthropist, and Vice President of Ladd and Bush Bank.

Date: Sunday, January 11, 2026

Time: The tour will begin promptly at 1:30pm and will conclude at 2:30pm.

Location: Bush House Museum, Mission Street Southeast, Salem, OR, USA

Tour Sign-ups

his tour is capped at 12 guests, so please be sure to register to hold your spot! 

In order to plan for our tour, please register by Friday, January 9 at 4pm; we will close the registration page after that time and we can not accommodate walk-ups on this tour.

The recommended ticket price is $20. Our ticket fees directly support the work we are doing at Bush House Museum. Please consider adding an additional donation in support.

*At the Salem Art Association, we prioritize inclusivity. To ensure that our arts and culture events remain accessible to all, we have set aside a limited number of free tickets. Please reach out to laura@salemart.org if you would like a promo code to waive the admission fee.

WINTER HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS

Posted on by bhmsalem in Events

Saturday December 6, 2025 From 1:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. | BUSH HOUSE MUSEUM

HAPPENING AT THE BUSH HOUSE MUSEUM

From 1:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. visitors can can enjoy music and explore immersive history by traveling back in time in the Museum’s seasonally decorated and beautifully maintained home and grounds!

  • December 3, and through December 6, Bush House Museum will begin collecting non perishable food donations for Marion Polk Food Share. Your generosity helps support families right here in our community throughout the winter months. We’re also pleased to be partnering with the Bush House Museum and Deepwood Museum & Gardens during the day-long Holiday Happening where all three sites will be collecting food donations on December 6. *Prior to Saturday, December 6, donations can be dropped off at the Bush Barn Art Center front desk.

ENJOY LIVE MUSIC THROUGHOUT THE DAY At THE BUSH HOUSE MUSEUM:

Constant Billy | 1:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M.

Constant Billy is known for their Celtic and Americana music, performed with voices and acoustic instruments. For this special Holiday performance spanning the late 19th century and into the early 20th century, the duo- Emily Standish & Bill Galbraith- will do an entirely acoustic hour of holiday music from the 1870s- the period when Bush House Museum was completed and the Bush family was in residence.

Jabberwocky Quartet | 2:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M.

Jabberwocky Quartet is an a cappella quartet made up of Micky Logan, Walt
Haight, and Gayle and Jim Rastorfer. They incorporate elements of jazz, barbershop, doo-wop, rock’n’roll, and quirky (thus their name “Jabberwocky”).

Melissa Terrall | 3:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M.

Melissa Terrall is an award-winning classical pianist currently based in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. A 2023 Fulbright grant recipient, she spent a year researching Mexican piano repertoire in Mexico City.

Melissa holds degrees from the University of Kansas and Portland State University. An equally passionate performer and teacher, she has worked as interim piano professor at Linfield University and Clark College while also maintaining a private piano studio.

Location: Bush House Museum, Mission Street Southeast, Salem, OR, USA

HAPPENING AT THE BUSH BARN ART CENTER AND ANNEX

From Noon to 4:00 P.M. Shop while enjoying some holiday treats! Visitors can enjoy one stop shop for unique gifts. More than 50 artists will be selling traditional art, plus jewelry, ceramics, textiles, tree ornaments, greeting cards!

We are excited to offer our members an additional 15% savings on purchases —
a 25% discount on this day only (for items over $10).

Shop while enjoying some holiday treats!

11:00 A.M. ARTIST TALK WITH JO HAMILTON

o’s exhibition “Shine On” featured in the A.N. Bush Gallery will talk about the intricate process of making her large-sale crochet installations.

Lecture RSVP

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENT OPEN STUDIO HOURS

Come meet Anna Thoreau during open studio hours and learn more about her her illustration process and project, “I Can Haz Fly”.

LOCATION
The Bush Barn Art Center & Annex
600 Mission St. SE, Salem, OR 97302

November BUSH HOUSE MUSEUM EXTENDED 90 MINUTES TOUR

Posted on by bhmsalem in Uncategorized

SUNDAY November 9, 2025 From 1:30 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. | BUSH HOUSE MUSEUM

tickets

But Wait! There’s More!
During the standard Bush House Museum (BHM) tour, we run out of time before we run out of stories. What to do? An extended, 90 minute tour, of course. Let’s snoop in some closets, whisper some rumors and might there be a scandal? And how does that contraption work?

Date: Sunday, November 9, 2025

Time: The tour will begin promptly at 1:30 pm and will conclude at 3:00 pm.
Please meet your tour guide, Robin Cunningham, outside on the front porch before heading into the Museum as a group. 

Location: Bush House Museum, Mission Street Southeast, Salem, OR, USA

Tickets

We plan to schedule more tours in the future. To be notified of future tours, please join the waitlist!

Art Lover’s Tour of the Bush House Museum

Posted on by bhmsalem in Events

SUNDAY, August 31, 2025 From 1:30 P.M. to 2:30 P.M. | BUSH HOUSE MUSEUM

The inaugural Art Lover’s Tour was a sell-out success with a waitlist. Here’s your chance to join the next one.

There’s never enough time on the standard tour to do justice to the Bush family art collection. Here’s your chance to satisfy your curiosity and fundraise for Bush House Museum.

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to experience a private tour with a focus on the Bush family art collection in the historic Bush House Museum.

Date: Sunday, August 31, 2025

Tour Sign-ups

This tour is capped at 12 guests, so please be sure to register to hold your spot! 

Date: Sunday, August 31, 2025

Time: The tour will begin promptly at 1:30pm and will conclude at 2:30pm.

Location: Bush House Museum, Mission Street Southeast, Salem, OR, USA

Bush House Museum Architecture Tour: History and Mysteries

Posted on by bhmsalem in Uncategorized

SUNDAY August 17, 2025 From 1:30 P.M. to 2:30 P.M. | BUSH HOUSE MUSEUM

tickets

Back by popular demand!  We will conduct the Bush House Museum Historic Architecture tour.

Are you curious about the architecture of the Bush House Museum? What’s with that door to nowhere? Why is the basement mostly above ground? What’s with those two steps up from the servants level? What style is this architecture and who was the architect?

Take a deep dive into the architecture of the Bush House.  Learn about its Italianate style of architecture, rooted in Italian villa design and the Romantic movement in 19th century art. Explore finely crafted wood and metal details and exquisite marble fireplaces throughout the house.

Join us for an interesting and enlightening tour of the oddities of Bush House Museum. and enlightening tour of the oddities of Bush House Museum.

Date: Sunday, August 17, 2025

Time: The tour will begin promptly at 1:30pm and will conclude at 2:30pm.
Please meet your tour guide, Kathy, outside on the east side of the House to view the exterior architecture before heading into the Museum as a group. 

Location: Bush House Museum, Mission Street Southeast, Salem, OR, USA

This tour is capped at 12 guests, so please be sure to register to hold your spot! 

Tickets

BUSH HOUSE MUSEUM EXTENDED 90 MINUTES TOUR

Posted on by bhmsalem in Uncategorized

SUNDAY july 27, 2025 From 1:30 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. | BUSH HOUSE MUSEUM

tickets

But Wait! There’s More!
During the standard Bush House Museum (BHM) tour, we run out of time before we run out of stories. What to do? An extended, 90 minute tour, of course. Let’s snoop in some closets, whisper some rumors and might there be a scandal? And how does that contraption work?

Date: Sunday, July 27th, 2025

Time: The tour will begin promptly at 1:30 pm and will conclude at 3:00 pm.
Please meet your tour guide, Robin Cunningham, outside on the front porch before heading into the Museum as a group. 

Location: Bush House Museum, Mission Street Southeast, Salem, OR, USA

Tickets

We plan to schedule more tours in the future. To be notified of future tours, please join the waitlist!

LET THE SUN SHINE THROUGH

Posted on by bhmsalem in Current shows in our new America Waldo Bogle Gallery

MAY 1 – JUNE 26, 2026 | THE AMERICA WALDO BOGLE GALLERY AT THE BUSH HOUSE MUSEUM

Let the Sun Shine Through unfolds at the threshold between interior and exterior, history and presence. Installed within the historic rooms of the Bush House Museum, this work considers how the female figure, landscape, and memory move across and through one another.

The mural painted directly on the wall introduces a silhouetted, copper-colored, feminine form that gathers the oak just beyond the gallery window and draws it inward. The gesture collapses distance: outside becomes inside, past becomes present, and the natural world enters a space shaped by layered histories. The oaks, rooted and enduring, act as witnesses—holding time in ways the built environment cannot.

My work begins where history fractures—where Black stories have been silenced, fragmented, or erased. Through painting and curation as social practice, I assemble those fragments into spaces for reflection, resistance, and radical beauty. Across the mural and accompanying figure paintings, silhouetted forms emerge in ethereal negative space, carrying both memory and possibility.

These figures, informed by gesture and organic form, move between the human and the elemental. They ask how bodies hold ancestry, how land remembers, and how presence can be reclaimed within spaces not originally built to contain it. Afrofuturist undercurrents shape this work, opening speculative pathways for Black futurity, growth, and transformation.

Within this installation, light becomes an active force—filtering through windows, across surfaces, and into the figures themselves. To let the sun shine through is to allow for permeability: between histories, bodies, and worlds. It is an offering toward healing, and an insistence on becoming.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Tammy Jo Wilson is a Black artist, curator, speaker, and facilitator dedicated to creating inclusive spaces where art serves as a catalyst for connection, dialogue, and change. Based in Portland, Oregon, she weaves together her passion for advocacy, creativity, and community-building to uplift underrepresented voices—particularly Black artists—through exhibitions, programming, and mentorship. She holds an MFA from San Jose State University and a BFA from the Pacific Northwest College of Art. She co-founded Art in Oregon, a statewide nonprofit fostering artistic equity and cultural vitality. Wilson serves as the Visual Arts & Technology Program Manager at Lewis & Clark College. She is actively curating numerous exhibitions, including Black Matter, an ongoing exhibition featuring Oregon-based Black artists, and Terrain, a land art exhibit and residency celebrating the intersection of art and nature.

Bush House Museum Architecture Tour: History and Mysteries

Posted on by bhmsalem in Current shows in our new America Waldo Bogle Gallery, Events

SUNDAY June 22, 2025 From 12:15 P.M. to 1:15 P.M. | BUSH HOUSE MUSEUM

tickets

Are you curious about the architecture of the Bush House Museum? What’s with that door to nowhere? Why is the basement mostly above ground? What’s with those two steps up from the servants level? What style is this architecture and who was the architect?

Take a deep dive into the architecture of the Bush House.  Learn about its Italianate style of architecture, rooted in Italian villa design and the Romantic movement in 19th century art. Explore finely crafted wood and metal details and exquisite marble fireplaces throughout the house.

Join us for an interesting and enlightening tour of the oddities of Bush House Museum.

Date: Sunday, June 22, 2025

Time: The tour will begin promptly at 12:15pm and will conclude at 1:15pm.
Please meet your tour guide, Kathy, outside on the east side of the House to view the exterior architecture before heading into the Museum as a group. 

Location: Bush House Museum, Mission Street Southeast, Salem, OR, USA

This tour is capped at 12 guests, so please be sure to register to hold your spot! 

Tickets

Art Lover’s Tour of the Bush House Museum

Posted on by bhmsalem in Current shows in our new America Waldo Bogle Gallery, Events

SUNDAY APRIL 27, 2025 From 1:30 P.M. to 2:30 P.M. | BUSH HOUSE MUSEUM

There’s never enough time on the standard tour to do justice to the Bush family art collection. Here’s your chance to satisfy your curiosity and fundraise for Bush house museum.

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to experience a private tour with a focus on the Bush family art collection in the historic Bush House Museum.

Tour Sign-ups

This tour is capped at 12 guests, so please be sure to register to hold your spot! 

Date: Sunday, April 27, 2025

Time: The tour will begin promptly at 1:30pm and will conclude at 2:30pm.

Location: Bush House Museum, Mission Street Southeast, Salem, OR, USA