Mayer/Reed, Author at Mayer Reed

Mayer/Reed Gallery Artist Profile: Delphina Seeger

Detail: Great Blue Heron, 2026 Gold Key regional award winner, Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

Our rotating art gallery recently featured the energetic work of Delphina Seeger, a student at Ida B. Wells High School and daughter of our marketing manager.

Selected from Delphina’s junior year AP art portfolio, four oil paintings featuring a coyote, great blue heron, river otters and mallard ducks each portray a delightful scene from the ecosystems of our region. Her technique explores color and stylization through animal subjects. “I used vibrant underpaintings,” she shares, “and experimented with naturalistic and expressive color palettes.”

Detail of bright pink underpainting technique

Delphina will attend Oregon State University this fall, majoring in zoology with a minor in studio art.

A Redesigned Willson Park to Cap Renovations at the Oregon State Capitol

Flanking the west wing of the Oregon State Capitol, the four-acre Willson Park has been an important green space in Salem, Oregon, since the original Capitol was built in 1854. Now, the park will receive a much-needed renovation as the final phase of intensive improvements at the Capitol building and grounds. Construction at the park has begun with completion expected later in 2026.

Mayer/Reed’s design for Willson Park improves accessibility and circulation and unifies park elements. The new design reimagines the long-defunct Waite Memorial Fountain as a central memorial garden with a two-tiered granite seat wall. The Walk of Flags monument is repositioned along the updated central loop pathway, better connecting the Capitol to the existing World War II and Vietnam War veterans memorials at the park edges.

The Willson Park redesign is a joint project of the Oregon Department of Administration Services and the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. The project is a continuation of our work with CannonDesign on prior phases of the Oregon State Capitol renovation.

Mayer/Reed Gallery Artist Profile: Anne Samuel

Our in-studio gallery recently featured the three-dimensional work of Mayer/Reed Landscape Architect and Associate Anne Samuel. The suspended installation plays with light, shadow and subtle movement.

Composed of found materials, the untitled piece uses red acrylic, painted wood, monofilament and small beads in a study of balance and luminosity. A scrap of acrylic led to this exploration of possibility. “I wondered what I could make out of it,” Anne reflects. “I was most interested to see how the light cast on the wall would become part of the art, moving throughout the day with changing light conditions.”

Anne’s artistic pursuits have long embraced the act of making and building, spanning beading, jewelry, sculpture and furniture. Unconcerned with assigning meaning to her creations, she is guided instead by material curiosity and the physical process of formation. With training in theater and physics before earning her Master of Landscape Architecture, she is an artist equally attuned to art and science. “I am constantly trying something new in my art,” she says, “often dictated by a self-imposed challenge to create with the materials at hand.” A palette limited to cast-off materials makes the process more intriguing to Anne and reflects her commitment to sustainable design.

The Gift of Creative Curiosity

Curiosity drives us to explore and learn. It opens the door for our imaginations and our technical expertise to work together, and it allows us to wonder, “What if?” As we gathered to celebrate 2025 and welcome the adventures of 2026, we challenged our team to engage their creative curiosity on a familiar object.

The task: reimagine the Mayer/Reed logo as a holiday gift—in just two hours.

The activity encouraged us to flex our creative talents and experiment with materials and processes available in and around the studio. The instructions were purposely ambiguous: be curious and play.

The studio was soon buzzing with energy as our team, fueled by sugary holiday treats and music, began sketching, painting, building, filming, photographing and animating. Exploration awakens a bit of joy in us all.

Cheers to a prosperous year filled with abundant curiosity and moments of discovery.