Springfield adds fiber arts exhibit, student designs to City Hall Gallery

Springfield’s City Hall Gallery gave Second Friday visitors a free downtown stop that mixed fiber art, student design and live music under one roof. Keys to the Realm, an exhibit by Oregon artist Candace Hunter, opened June 1 and remains on view through June 30 inside Springfield City Hall at 225 Fifth Street, next to the Springfield Public Library.

The artist reception will be held Friday, June 12, from 5 to 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and will include light refreshments and live music by Stereo Minds, giving families and casual downtown visitors an easy way to step into a civic building and see art without paying admission.

Hunter describes herself as an Oregon textile artist who works primarily in fiber, especially cotton and wool. Her Keys to the Realm series was created between July 2025 and April 2026, and the city says her process uses dyeing, mark-making and textile manipulation to build layered surfaces. The series includes works titled Occupy, Influence, Candy, Allure, Promise and Celebrate, a lineup that reflects how closely the show ties craft techniques to finished visual storytelling.

The gallery’s youth section adds another layer. It features winning designs from BRING’s 2026 Student Product Design Challenge, connecting the exhibit to reuse, waste prevention and sustainability. BRING gives each student or team $50 in challenge cash redeemable for used building materials at the Planet Improvement Center, turning the display into a lesson about what can be remade, not just admired.

Springfield has used the City Hall Gallery as a regular arts anchor since 1989, and the space now draws about 3,700 visitors a month. Monthly shows are selected through a public call to artists issued by the Springfield Arts Commission, the nine-member volunteer board created by the City Council in 1986 at the end of the city’s Centennial Celebration. The commission also supports public art across Springfield, including the City Hall Art Gallery and Art Alley, part of a modestly funded civic arts program that keeps downtown cultural programming visible in the same buildings where residents already come for library visits and city business.