Seeking Hazel Hall
An internationally respected poet, Hazel Hall lived in Portland, Oregon, in the early 1900s, writing poems inspired by the view from her second floor window. For most of her short life she was confined to the family home as her mother and sister were unable to maneuver her wheelchair down the stairs. Born in 1886, she died in 1927, at age 38. The Oregon Book Award for poetry is jointly named for Hazel Hall and fellow Oregon poet William Stafford, and yet she has faded from modern memory.
Since 2017, I’ve done the following projects uncovering and sharing her life and work.
The Room Upstairs
In 2017, musician and educator Matthew Svoboda introduced me to the life and work of Hall. Together, we researched her life, poetry, and the history of Portland during her lifetime. We did this through visiting the Oregon Historical Society’s research library, touring Hall’s former home with the current residents, exploring the City of Portland and Multnomah County Library’s digital archives, and meeting with visual artists making artwork inspired by Hall. We used this research to develop a performance at Lane Community College depicting and celebrating Hall’s life. Matthew composed a three-movement work for dance that echoes the themes of Hall's three books and collaborated with two choreographers on a performance with a group of Lane students and a dancer from the community who uses a wheelchair, portraying Hall.
Project by
Laura Glazer, Matthew SvobodaCollaborators
Mari Dewitt, Cat Frink, James McConkey, Jana Meszaros, Sarah M. Nemecek Participants
Karen Daly, Geri Doran, Heather Kidd, Lane Dance CompanyLocation
Eugene, OregonYear
2019 Sparking Memory: Artists Respond to Hazel Hall
When people first learn about Portland, Oregon, poet Hazel Hall they often experience noticeable sparks of wonder and want to read her poetry and know more about her life.
Her story invites questions and conjures compelling images: a short life mostly lived in a wheelchair while supporting her family with sewing. Award-winning poems about what she saw from her window. Internationally admired in her lifetime; hidden and almost forgotten in ours.
I curated artwork from three artists, Terry Ann Carter, Chayo Wilson, and myself for this exhibit. Each of us used our respective mediums to explore, understand, and share Hall’s story. For me, I had a visceral urge to seek historical context and document what I found, felt, and experienced during the process. For Terry Ann, Hall’s words needed to become a physical object that can be touched and treasured as an heirloom. Chayo discovered a muse within Hall and hoped to release her spirit and story through her sculptures.
These works were exhibited at Lane Community College’s Ragozzino Performance Hall on the occassion of The Room Upstairs performance.
Project by
Laura GlazerParticipants
Terry Ann Carter, Laura Glazer, Chayo WilsonLocations
Portland, OregonEugene, Oregon
Year
2019Mini Museum of Sound
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Project by
Laura GlazerCollaborators
Marty Brown, NOUN A Person’s Place for Things, Oregon State University PressParticipants
David Biespiel, Anne Greenwood, Leanne Grabel, Brandi Haile, Anita Helle, Andrea Hollander, Sue Mach, Kim Stafford, Matthew Svoboda, Chayo Wilson, John WitteLocation
Portland, OregonYear
2020Traveling Library
Presented at Vanport Mosaic’s 2019 Memory Activism Fair, A Hazel Hall Traveling Library is a tool for sharing her poetry, life story, and works about her. The Library’s main components are two portable cases which convert to bookshelves when the front panels are removed. This Library facilitates access to her work, bringing her out of history and directly to contemporary audiences, and increasing awareness of her existence which has decreased in the years since her death.
The first library contains first editions of the three books by Hall. The second library collects publications on Hall by researchers over the past 100 years, including zines I published, Pursuing the Life of Hazel Hall, Picturing the Life of Hazel Hall, and Reflections on Hazel Hall in a Time of Pandemic by Anita Helle.
