Image: “Mary’s Peak” by Jim Howland
Jim and Ruth Howland Fund
Supporting Public Art and the
Annual Community OPEN Show
Jim and Ruth Howland
Jim Howland was one of the founders of the international engineering firm, CH2M-Hill. He fostered high-level community engagement with everyone he met. In the early 1960s, when the idea of a Corvallis Arts Council was initiated, Jim made one of the first significant contributions to the effort.
Ruth and Jim’s support for the arts continued to grow over the course of the next four decades. Jim’s printmaking led to their ownership of Pegasus Framing and Gallery and lifetime friendships with many local artists.
They were active members of the Madison Avenue Task Force that had the goal of connecting the Oregon State University campus to beautiful Downtown Corvallis. Jim’s vision for a Madison Avenue corridor filled with “art surprises” is what we enjoy today. It is fitting that the first Patron of the Arts Award went to Jim and Ruth Howland.
The Howland’s generously established the Jim and Ruth Howland Fund within The Arts Center’s Endowment Fund as a designated fund to support public art and the annual Community OPEN show. They loved this open show as it provided an opportunity for everyone living in Benton and Linn Counties to participate and share their artwork.
The Jim and Ruth Howland Community OPEN allows us to remember this amazing couple with gratitude for their visionary spirit and lasting support.
This annual show begins the ‘call to artists’ phase in Jan of each year and is on exhibit February thru April.
If you share in Jim & Ruth Howland’s vision of supporting community arts programming or would like to give a gift in their memory, consider donating to this fund.
For more information on other designated funds in The Arts Center Endowment Fund, click here.