Chris D'ArcySalem’s Public Art Collection is one of our community’s greatest treasures, often hidden in plain sight. This column invites you to slow down and rediscover the sculptures, murals, and installations that help shape our city’s culture. Each installment highlights a single work: where it came from, who created it, and why it matters. Think of it as a walking companion, a gentle nudge to look closer, and a reminder that art belongs to all of us. Let’s get to know the city we call home, one piece at a time.
Nestled downhill from the historic Kirkbride building at the Oregon State Hospital is Salem’s only nationally award-winning public art project: the Cremains Memorial, designed by Lead Pencil Studio, Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo, architects and graduates of the University of Oregon.
In 2004, Oregon State Senator Peter Courtney and others toured the Oregon State Hospital in Salem and came across a small, abandoned structure on the grounds. Inside, they discovered more than 3,600 copper cans containing unclaimed cremated human remains, or cremains. Courtney called it the “room of forgotten souls.”
The discovery added to the hospital’s already dark reputation. Since its beginnings in the 19th century, the Salem hospital had been plagued with allegations of abuse and inhumane therapies. It was famously used as the set of the 1975 movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a film that, among other things, explored the darker side of mental-health facilities of its time.
The remains in Salem were of people who died at the hospital and were cremated between 1913 and 1971. For various reasons, their ashes were not claimed. The canisters had been moved from one location to another on hospital grounds and eventually forgotten.
The discovery of the “copper canisters” and the Courtney visit prompted a significant redesign and expansion of the hospital itself, which made Oregon Percent for Art in Public Places funding available. In addition to multiple works created for the interior, artist/architects Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo of Lead Pencil Studio were commissioned to design a suitable and respectful resting place for the cremains — one that would also help families reconnect with lost loved ones.
The project makes use of a 1925 building moved from a previous location on the hospital grounds, where the now-empty copper canisters are stored in rows and viewed through a glass wall. The memorial includes a columbarium wall that traces the ghost footprint of a demolished morgue, which was once attached to the older brick crematorium.
Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo of Lead Pencil commented on their design of the memorial:
“Part artwork and part work of architecture, this design was developed in continual reference to our personal belief that the final resting place should be both simple and elegant — with a minimum artistic authorship which might otherwise overshadow the sanctity of the space. The key historical circumstance this memorial seeks to address is the public recovery of individuals who went missing for decades within the hospital system. To accomplish this, we felt intuitively that our response would need to take the shape of a physical space for gathering, rather than a sculptural form. In this way visitors would be invited to experience a peaceful place of contemplation whereby the living could quietly dwell amongst the deceased. We endeavored to create the possibility of sincere public reconciliation as visitors witnessed firsthand a permanently designated public space intended for the process of private closure.”
The Memorial was dedicated in 2014. It received a national Public Art Year in Review Award from Americans for the Arts in 2015.
Today, the Oregon Health Authority maintains a web page on the memorial with information for families and the public.
This story originally ran in Press Play Salem issue 27 (Spring 2026)
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Carlee Wright
