Julia Christianson Hoffman

Julia Christiansen Hoffman (March 30, 1856 – November 30, 1934) was an American artist and arts patron who fostered the Portland Arts and Crafts movement in the state of Oregon, through exhibitions and art classes. In 1907 she led the establishment of the Arts and Crafts Society of Portland, a forerunner of the Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC).

Biography Julia Elizabeth Christiansen, daughter of Danish immigrants Hamond and Elizabeth Christiansen, was born March 30, 1856, in Manti, Sanpete County, Utah, northeast of Gunnison. She moved to Portland in 1881, and in 1883 married Lee Hoffman (1850–1895), a Portland builder. In 1887, when he completed the Morrison Bridge, the first bridge across the Willamette River, Julia Christiansen Hoffman was "the first person to 'walk across the Willamette' ". The Hoffmans had two children: their son Lee Hawley was born in 1884, and daughter Margery was born in 1888.

Hoffman's husband died in a shooting accident in 1895, and Hoffman moved her family to Boston, seeking better educational opportunities for her children. In the late 1890s, Hoffman joined the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston; she took classes at Grundemann Studios of the Boston Art Students' Association, and studied with master silversmith George Christian Gebelein. She provided the salary of the first design instructor of the Museum Art School, precursor of Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA). According to Richard S. Christen, she was also "one of Portland's leading citizens and perhaps its most avid craftsperson".

Hoffman Gallery at OCAC is named in her honor.

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