NEWBERG, Ore. — The Newberg Public Art Council (NPAC) has installed a series of hand-painted, mouse-themed panels on the previously boarded windows of the Newberg Masonic Lodge No. 104 building at 402 E. Sheridan St., the latest addition to the organization’s mouse-focused public art series downtown.
The panels cover windows that had been boarded over for years, said Eric Hemmer, an NPAC board member. Hemmer said he contacted the lodge after learning that a nearby mouse sculpture — part of the same NPAC series — would be relocated to the corner of the lawn near the Cultural Center and Newberg Public Library.
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“I sent an email to the generic contact us email and told them what I was proposing,” Hemmer said, adding that lodge member Rick Fieldhouse responded and the two organizations moved forward with the project.
Fieldhouse said the partnership served the Masons’ broader mission.
“Masonry at its core is an institution that’s primarily educational, and supporting community, especially kids in the community, is one of our goals,” Fieldhouse said.
He hopes the public art will also help deter graffiti on the building’s historic brick exterior, which he said has been an ongoing concern.
The panel designs were originally outlined by local artist Sarah Joy Silva; Hemmer said he added the flower illustrations for this installation. Community members painted the panels using a paint-by-number process during First Friday events at ART Elements Gallery, according to Hemmer. He said the work was installed at no cost to the lodge.
The building, which sits on the corner of Sheridan and Blain streets, was purpose-built for the lodge in 1892 after Lynn Ferguson, a Newberg pharmacist, donated the property; the lodge had previously met in a space above Ferguson’s drugstore.
Fieldhouse described Freemasonry as a fraternal organization with roots in European trade guilds dating to the 1700s, centered on mutual aid among members and support for public education. He said the organization does not require adherence to a specific religion but does require a belief in a higher power.
He estimated there are about 6,000 Freemasons across roughly 100 lodges in Oregon, along with affiliated organizations including the Eastern Star, DeMolay, Rainbow Girls, Job’s Daughters and the Shriners.
Camellia-themed panels moving through city permitting
NPAC has also produced a parallel series of camellia-themed panels — Newberg’s official flower — using the same paint-by-number, community-painting process. According to NPAC’s website, the camellia artwork was commissioned from six local artists and is intended for display at downtown businesses, with support from the Oregon Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Oregon Cultural Trust and the Austin Family Foundation.
Hemmer said the camellia panels are moving through the city’s permitting process, which he said has taken longer than the mouse panels because the artwork will be installed on buildings facing public rights-of-way, unlike the privately owned Masonic lodge. He said the city’s municipal code defines a mural as original artwork painted on or directly attached to a building, a distinction NPAC has used to separate murals from sign regulations.
Hemmer said NPAC’s long-term goal is to connect the mouse and camellia installations into a walkable public art trail through downtown Newberg, potentially supported by a map or mobile app.
“We’re not so much focused on just individual installations that we like or want to do, but we really want to be very inclusive with the community at large,” Hemmer said. “It’s more than just beautification. It’s interacting and getting people involved that makes it fun.”
Those interested in Newberg Masonic Lodge No. 104 can contact the organization at Newberg104@gmail.com or visit oregonfreemasonry.com. NPAC can be reached at publicart@newbergdowntown.org.
