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OMA's exhibitions
showcase the finest art of regional and international artists. From
classic landscape paintings and studio furniture to neon sculpture,
art quilts and architectural glass, the museum's galleries are redesigned
for each exhibit, surprising visitors with a fresh, exciting visual
transformation for every show.
C U R R E N T E
X H I B I T S
Masterpieces of San Diego Painting: Fifty
Works from Fifty Years, 1900-1950
March 2, through
June 29, 2008
Oceanside Museum of Art presents Masterpieces
of San Diego Painting: Fifty Works from Fifty Years, 1900-1950,
the inaugural exhibition for the grand opening of the museum’s
new 16,000 sq.ft. Central Pavilion. Modernist architect Frederick
Fisher designed the Central Pavilion that includes exhibition galleries,
an elegant lobby, administrative offices, and exhibit preparation
workshops. Fisher is a recent recipient of the Rome Prize in
Architecture which has been awarded for more than 100 years
by the American Academy in Rome to exceptional artists and scholars.
He will spend six months at the Academy exploring museum and exhibition
design.
Masterpieces of San Diego Painting: Fifty Works from Fifty Years,
1900-1950 features some of San Diego’s outstanding artists
who lived and worked in the region between 1900 and 1950. It brings
to focus the museum’s mission to promote and foster the appreciation
and understanding of regional art through its exhibitions, collections,
and educational programs for the cultural enhancement of Southern
California. An open house will introduce the exhibition and celebrate
the new Central Pavilion on Sunday, March 2, 2008 from 1:00 to 4:00
p.m. The open house is free and the public is welcome. A series
of private receptions for lenders to the exhibition and donors to
the capital campaign will be held prior to the open house. Masterpieces
of San Diego Painting: Fifty Works from Fifty Years, 1900-1950
will continue through June 29, 2008.
Curator Bram Dijkstra has assembled some of the finest paintings
from private collections and museums that reveal the most accomplished
artists during this fifty year period. The exhibition will include
both the celebrated plein air painters of San Diego such as Maurice
Braun, Charles Fries, and Charles Reiffel as well as the highly
accomplished group of early modernists including Belle Baranceanu
and Ethel Greene.
Dijkstra is professor emeritus in comparative literature at University
of California, San Diego and author of several books, most recently,
Belle Baranceanu: The Artist at Work and American Expressionism:
Art and Social Change, 1920-1950. A nationally recognized scholar
and art historian, Dijkstra is the author of the catalog that accompanies
the exhibition which is printed and bound in a hardcover portfolio
that commemorates the inauguration of the Frederick Fisher designed
Central Pavilion. The catalog is funded in part by a grant from
the National Endowment for the Arts.
Ancient Marks: The Sacred
Origins of Tattoos and Body Marking
April 27 – August 24, 2008
Documentary photographer Chris Rainier has traveled the world depicting
the rituals and traditions of cultures for publications such as
Time, Life, and National Geographic. During a
seven year period of travel and exploration his lens captured the
origins of tattooing and body-altering art that are portrayed in
the exhibition Ancient Marks: The Sacred Origins of Tattoos
and Body Marking, beginning April 27th at Oceanside Museum
of Art.
The exhibition features 31 elegant black and white photographs that
reflect humanity’s efforts to forge identity, beauty, storytelling,
and sacred beliefs. Rainier’s images span from the savannahs
of Africa to the barrios of Los Angeles connecting the indigenous
forms of tattooing, scarification, piercing, and other forms of
body-altering art.
The exhibit speaks to all ages, ethnicities and social levels. One
of the artist’s captions reads, “In the frenetic, ever-shifting
landscapes of urban zones, tattoos offer permanence, an anchor of
distinction, and a fervent emblem countering loss of identity in
modern culture.” Tattoos and body-altering art satisfy the
need for ornamentation in our modern culture – be it for a
celebrity, a gang member or a suburban housewife.
Chris Rainier is considered one of the world’s leading documentary
photographers and is a contributing editor for National Geographic.
He has been voted one of the 100 most important people working in
photography today by American Photo Magazine. He trained
in classical darkroom methods while working as a photographic assistant
to Ansel Adams in the early 1980s. Rainier has released three books,
including, Ancient Marks, which corresponds with the exhibition.
The book will be available for sale in the OMA Museum Store.
OMA members free.
Three Malagan masks
Sculpture and woman with back tattoo
Click
here to see the on-line exhibit
P A S T E
X H I B I T S
OMA
Regional 5
September 23 through November 11, 2007
Oceanside Museum of Art announces its fifth juried exhibition of regional
artists, OMA Regional 5, which opened with a preview reception on
Sunday, September 23rd from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. The three esteemed jurors
who selected the art from over 440 works submitted are: Jean Lowe,
a member of the visual arts faculty at University of California, San
Diego; Leah Ollman, a visual arts writer and critic for the Los Angeles
Times; and Tyler Stallings, Director of the Sweeney Art Gallery established
on the University of Riverside campus and now situated on the UCR
ArtsBlock. The 33 works that comprise the show include drawings, mixed
media, paintings, prints and sculpture.
The
70s: Surf Photography by Jeff Divine and Classic Boards from the Era
July 1 through September 2, 2007
This exhibition examines the vibrant surf culture in Southern California
and Hawaii during the 1970s with images by renowned surf photographer
Jeff Divine. A selection of classic 1970s surfboards accompany the
exhibition.
Four San Diego
Sculptors: Kenneth Capps, Jesus Y. Dominguez,
Tom Driscoll, Jim Skalman
April 21 through June 10, 2007
This exhibition presents four diverse approaches to 3-dimension. Jesus
Y. Dominguez has created large-scale sculptures based on childhood
memories that are accompanied by personal narratives. Tom Driscoll’s
sculptures are colorful, whimsical works in aluminum. Kenneth Capps
is exhibiting figurative work that will be on view for the first time.
Jim Skalman’s minimal sculptures bear traces of industrial materials
that reinforce the poetic nature of abstraction.
Jusour
wa Kusour: The Work of Doris Bittar, 1989-2007
February 11 through April 1, 2007
Jusour wa Kusour: The Work of Doris Bittar, 1989-2007 opened
Saturday, February 10th with a preview reception from 5:00 to 7:00
p.m. Admission to the reception is $8 and includes complimentary
hors d’oeuvres, wine and soft drinks. Members of Oceanside
Museum of Art attend free as a benefit of membership.
Quilt
Visions 2006
November 12 - January 21, 2007
Oceanside Museum of Art proudly presents Quilt Visions 2006, an
international contemporary art quilt exhibition organized by Quilt
San Diego/Quilt Visions appearing at OMA for the third time. Continuing
its tradition of presenting art quilts from around the world, this
show was selected by a panel of distinguished jurors from 725 entries
submitted by 318 artists from 20 countries.
W.
Haase Wojtyla: A Coincidence of Paintings
August 27
–- October 15, 2006
The first solo museum exhibition in San Diego County to feature
the work of W. Haase Wojtyla. Born in Chicago in 1933, Wojtyla
has lived in San Diego since 1973. While his art studies began
at the Art Institute of Chicago, it is while living in Southern
California that Wojtyla developed his mature artistic style.
As many writers have suggested, Wojtyla's style has much in common
with the work of British artist Francis Bacon (1909-1992).
Their abstracted forms appear born of the same experience, and their
paintings share a sense of tension that becomes the catalyst for
the viewer's response. Three of Wojtyla's most important
series of paintings from the past thirty years, Nudes in the
Shower, Crime Scenes, and Stalkers, share
a similar response and form the foundation for this retrospective
exhibition. While San Diego is familiar with Wojtyla's work,
it has been almost ten years since a large-scale exhibition has
been presented in the region. The exhibition includes work
from the 1950s and 1970s as well as recent work that has never been
shown.
SAN
DIEGO DESIGN: New Work from Allied Craftsmen
June
18- August 6, 2006
Allied Craftsmen
of San Diego has remained a premier organization for talented San
Diego artists for over 50 years. Its members are known for groundbreaking
techniques and innovative designs that are sculptural, conceptual,
decorative or functional - often using non-traditional forms and
introducing a variety of media. The selected artists are recognized
nationally and internationally as leaders in their fields and many
are faculty in the art departments at area colleges and universities.
Although originally created to showcase artists who work in clay,
wood, fiber, metal and glass, the organization now includes members
who honor design as well as craftsmanship.
THROUGH A LENS SHARPLY: PHOTO IMAGININGS
April 8, 2006 - May 28, 2006
Through a Lens Sharply features three women artists who address issues relating to social identity using photographs and photographic techniques. Amy Jorgensen’s “Body Archive Series” documents, without bias and without point of view, evidence of occurrence using her own body as an archive. Barbara Sexton combines photography with graphite and photo pencil on fiber paper in considering the prevailing social patterns that define collective relationships. Marcela Villaseñor’s work uses digital and traditional photographic and print media to focus on ancient Mexican culture and its intersection with the identities of modern-day Mexicans in both Mexico and the United States.
ART OF THE WPA ERA FROM COLLECTORS
OF THE SAN DIEGO REGION
January 28, 2006 - March 19, 2006
Artwork created during the WPA era mirrored a period in American
history when the country was attempting to recover from hard times.
Many artists contributed to this effort and their work remains
as an artistic reminder of the hope and promise of the era. Curated
by Bram Dijkstra.
OMA REGIONAL 4
November 19 - January 8, 2006
The OMA Regional 4 is a juried exhibition featuring paintings,
prints, and sculpture by some the region’s most talented
artists. Selections were made by a panel of three esteemed jurors
from the San Diego arts community: Mary Beebe, Director, The Stuart
Collection, University of California, San Diego; Derrick Cartwright,
Director, San Diego Museum of Art; and Arthur Ollman, Director,
Museum of Photographic Arts.
BORDERLESS DREAMS
September 11- October 30, 2005
Borderless Dreams features three Southern California artists who
explore how Latino lives and experiences are woven into the social
fabric of the United States.
ILLUMINATIONS: The Neon Sculpture
of Brian Coleman and David Svenson
July 3 through August 21
ILLUMINATIONS is a wondrous contemporary exhibition that showcases
the work of two neon artists that have taken the art form to new
dimensions.
CONVERGENCE: CROSSING THE DIVIDE
The Studio Furniture of Tasmania and America
April 16 through June 12, 2005
CONVERGENCE was an exhibition of contemporary studio furniture
that highlights the special relationship that exists between Tasmania
-- Australia’s smallest state -- and North America.
The exhibit brought together two groups of furniture makers from
opposite sides of the globe to illustrate that the common factors
of their practices transcend time and space to meet at a single
point. CONVERGENCE was a celebration among old and new friends
that reflects the common thread that connects them all to the
Tasmanian experience
The Watercolors of
James Hubbell
February 5 through March 26, 2005
The watercolors in the exhibition were saved from the Cedar Fires
that all but destroyed Hubbell’s home, studio, and extensive
compound in October of 2003. They are intimate thoughts and spontaneous
gestures - some done over the years and others in reflection
of the catastrophic conflagration that presented Hubbell with
unforeseen changes effecting his life and work. The paintings
in the exhibit date from 1988 to 2004 and represent four influences:
California, United States and Abroad, After the Fire, and a small
whimsical section.
Ouilt Visions
2004
November 10 through January 16, 2005
Oceanside Museum of Art presents Quilt Visions 2004 a biennial
juried international exhibition featuring forty-five contemporary
art quilts selected from over 600 entries. These contemporary
art quilts from 14 countries represent a wide spectrum of artistic
expression from impressionistic to abstract. Quilt Visions 2004
is in collaboration with Oceanside Museum of Art and Quilt San
Diego, a non-profit international art organization dedicated to
the promotion and appreciation of the quilt as art. A full-color
catalog is available at the museum featuring the forty-five quilts
in the exhibition.
OMA Fine Art Auction
& Exhibition
October 3 through October 23, 2004
Art Auction, October 23
More than 95 significant regional and national artists will be
represented in OMA's first-ever Art Auction & Exhibition.
Some of the artists whose work will bring competitive bidding
are James Aitchison, Charlotte Bird, Nilly Gil, James Hubbell,
Wendy Maruyama, Italo Scanga, Cheryl Tall, and James Watts. From
jewelry to paintings, bidders will also find sculpture, glass,
textiles, ceramics, and other special items.
Out of Oceanside: Aitchison,
Gross & Tysinger
July 11 through September 19, 2004
Oceanside Museum of Art presents some of the most exciting artwork
to come “Out of Oceanside” in an exhibit that features
three established artists with national reputations who live
or work in Oceanside. Artists James Aitchison, Michael C. Gross,
and Burton Tysinger will be the focus of this exhibition that
is bold, bright and full of visual drama.
Chouinard Art Institute alumnus James Aitchison is a figurative
painter who has exhibited throughout the world. His lyrical paintings
are imbued with symbolism from mythology, literature and his extensive
travels. Aitchison says that making paintings is an intensely
interesting way of finding out what the imagination might look
like.
Michael C. Gross is best known as an art director and producer
of films like Ghostbusters and Twins, but he is also a celebrated
pastel painter with themes that reflect his Hollywood experiences
and also his life in Africa, a body of work that he likes to describe
as “spiritual polar opposites.”
Designer Burton Tysinger uses painted wooden line segments to create
sculptures that become a labryrinth of color and form. His work
can be intimate and personal in scale or monumental and expansive.
Tysinger says it is the “gesture” of things, thoughts
and events that serve as a departure point of a piece.
Brighton Press: The Art of
the Book
April 11 through June 20, 2004
The act of opening, reading and viewing a book is an act of engagement,
a ritual involving touch, breath and deliberation. The artist
books of Brighton Press in San Diego will be on view at Oceanside
Museum of Art. Brighton Press has been creating books with a staff
of artists, poets and craftspeople since 1985. The books are made
by hand and are published in editions that range from ten to one
hundred copies. Brighton Press books are sought after by art collectors,
bibliophiles, and print collectors, and have also been acquired
and exhibited by over seventy museums and libraries, including
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Getty Research Institute, the
Museum of Modern Art and the New York Public Library.
Generation to Generation: Contemporary
Assemblage
January 25 - March 21, 2004
Generation to Generation: Contemporary Assemblage features found
objects that have a specific history. These recycled objects are
co-mingled with new or personal materials that yield a second
generation of combined ideas and insights. The artist, Jean Dubuffet
coined the term “assemblage” in 1953 to describe any
three-dimensional collage composed of found objects. Curators
Debby and Larry Kline use the term in a contemporary context,
one that extends the format to include room-sized installations
which viewers may enter. The exhibition features the work of artists
Poupee’ Boccaccio,
Irma Sofia Poeter, and James Watts. Each artist creates art imbued
with strongly personal histories by combining personal and found
objects into artist-made objects. These disparate elements are
assembled to offer fresh meanings for viewers.
OMA Regional 3
November 16 - January 4, 2004
Oceanside Museum of Art announces its third juried exhibition of
regional artists, OMA Regional 3 . The jury of three esteemed
members of the San Diego arts community were challenged to chose
from 600 submissions. OMA Regional 3 was juried by Mark Quint,
Director of the Quint Gallery, La Jolla; Reesey Shaw, Director
of the Lux Institute, Encinitas; and Tina Yapelli, Director of
the University Gallery, San Diego State University. The exhibition
will feature 33 original artworks completed within the past two
years and will include oil, acrylic and watercolor paintings,
drawings, mixed media, prints, graphics, and sculpture. The fine
art of twenty artists will be featured in a provocative selection
showcasing recent trends in contemporary art. The OMA Regional
3 is a wonderful opportunity to get a glimpse of the extraordinary
talent existing in the region today.
John Edward Svenson - California Sculptor
September 7 - October 26, 2003
Oceanside Museum of Art is proud to present, John Edward Svenson:
California Sculptor, an exhibition that celebrates Svenson's legacy
as an architectural sculptor and artist of public art commissions.
John Edward Svenson: California Sculptor, is being supported in
part by a grant from Stirling Enterprises.
Irving Gill in Oceanside
June 22, 2003 - August 17, 2003
This exhibition focuses on the architecture of Irving Gill in
Oceanside, showing the influences which culminated in his distinctly
modernist style in this region. Also included is a model by architect
Frederick Fisher of the OMA expansion which will unite two Gill-Designed
buildings. The present museum, (originally the Oceanside city
hall), and the neighboring fire station. These will be linked
by a two-story addition.
By The Sea
April 12, 2003 - June 1, 2003
OMA's first photography exhibition showcases work of Joel Meyerowitz,
Lee Peterson and a collection on loan from the San Diego Museum
of Photographic Arts that explores life by the sea.
Paintings from the E. Gene Crain Collection
January 26, 2003 - March 23, 2003
A prominent Southern California collector shares 50 California
Regionalism watercolors by eight artists whose reputations are
firmly established in contemporary art.
Quilt Visions 2002
November 3, 2002 - January 5, 2003
Quilt Visions 2002 is an international juried exhibition representing
art quilts from the United States and seven other countries.
ETHEL GREENE Surrealistic Painter
August 25 - October 13, 2002
Surreal landscape painter and illustrator Ethel Greene called
San Diego her home during her most prolific and recognized years.
The Oceanside Museum of Art proudly presents a retrospect of 40
of her most extraordinary painting. Curated by Mark-Elliott Lugo,
Visual Arts Librarian for the San Diego Public Library, with Robert
Perine.
Rock & Roll
June 15 - August 4, 2002
Explore the fine art of hand-painted guitars and skateboards.
Smile
April 6 - May 26, 2002
An exhibition that recognizes humor in art. Selected works will
tap your funny-bone evoking reactions from a loud guffaw to a
raised eyebrow. Currated by Michael C. Gross, Smile will feature
all media from minuscule to monumental.
John Garrett Retrospective
January 26 - March 17, 2002
OMA featured a career retrospective exhibition of internationally
acclaimed textile artist John Garrett. Known for the application
of textile technologies and imagery to various materials, Garrett
has been pushing the boundaries of traditional fiber art and textiles
for the past twenty-five years. Currently a full-time studio artist
in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Garrett taught for many years at colleges
and universities in California, including Scripps College and
UCLA.
Snowy Day & Smoky Night
November 17 - January 6, 2002
Children’s book illustrations by Caldecott Medal winners David
Diaz and Ezra Jack Keats are featured in this two-part exhibit
that comes from the National Center for Children’s Illustrated
Literature in Abilene, Texas. Keats, an icon of children’s
literature, authored and/or illustrated more than 85 books in
his lifetime. His Caldecott award-winning book, Snowy Day, was
considered groundbreaking when it was published in 1962, both
for his use of collage and for his portrayal of the urban experiences
of children of color. Diaz, an illustrator who began his career
with The San Diego Reader, is now a Carlsbad resident, and has
illustrated numerous children’s
books. The bold and graphic illustrations for his first children’s
book, Smoky Night by Eve Bunting, earned a Caldecott Medal in
1995.
Sam Maloof: A Tribute to Freda
September 15 - November 4, 2001
An exhibition featuring the work of California’s master furniture
maker, Sam Maloof, a craftsman honored as a “Living Treasure
of California” and hailed as a major influence in the development
of the American Studio Furniture movement. It will open simultaneously
with an exhibition of Maloof’s work at the Smithsonian’s
Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Chouinard: A Living Legacy
July 7 - August 26, 2001
Three generations of Chouinard artists who have left their
mark on contemporary art in America and California from 1921
to recent years were featured in this expansive retrospective.
Each generation will be curated by a celebrated artist member
of the Chouinard Foundation simultaneously at three venues:
OMA, the Boehm Gallery at Palomar College and the Kruglak Gallery
at MiraCosta College.
Deloss McGraw: The Circus Loosley
April 29 - June 17, 2001
Artist DeLoss McGraw interprets the whimsy and pathos of the circus
environment with paintings, fabric, illustrations and text. Influenced
by the writings of Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and the atmosphere
of Germany before World War II, as well as contemporary circus-maker,
John Highkin of San Diego, McGraw challenges us to make the connection
between that time of history and today.
OMA Regional 2
February 10 - April 8, 2001
The second annual juried exhibition of the best work from over
40 top San Diego County artists juried by Don Bacigalupi, director
of the San Diego Museum of Art, Erika Torri, director of The Athenaeum
in La Jolla, and John Haynes, president of the California Center
for the Arts, Escondido.
Double Feature
November 18 - January 21, 2001
A double bill featuring two exhibitions at once: "Yardworks" by
the Manhattan Quilters Guide, a traveling exhibition of 19 contemporary
quilts, and quilts by Faith Ringgold, an internationally acclaimed
author, painter, and quilt artist who transforms the African American
experience into contemporary art through life stories and historical
events.
100 Giants of Chair Design
September 9 - October 29, 2000
Worn with Pride: Celebrating
Samoan Artistic Heritage
July 1- August 26, 2000
A tribute to American Samoan art and cultural traditions. A collaborative
project of the Oceanside Public Library and Oceanside Museum of
Art in partnership with the Samoan Sister Cities Committee and
the Samoan community of Oceanside.
Atmosphere
April 25 - June 11, 2000
3+3
February 12 - April 2, 2000
Sculpture by James Renner, Anne Mudge, and Robin Bright + painting
by Alexia Markarian, Nancy Kittredge, and Philip Kirkland.
Glass3
December 4 - January 23, 2000
William Alexander Griffith: Southern California Impressionist
September 11 - November 14, 1999
California plain air painters had turned their backs on the art
world of their time, the cubists, the abstractionists, etc. They
reveled in the pure joy of landscape -- canyons, mountains, deserts
and the shore. No artist of that period was more committed to
this idea than William Alexander Griffith - WIlliam Alexander
Griffith (1866-1940).
Neon Nature
June 26 - August 22, 1999
The work of four of California’s top neon sculpture artists:
Candice Gawne, Kunio Ohashi, Jan Sanchez, and Brian Colema. Their
work has been recognized worldwide and featured from the International
Glass exhibition in Seto Japan to L.A.’s Museum on Neon Art
show Traveling Light. Their exquisite work has helped to launch
a revival of the appeal and love of neon.
Furniture Redefined: San Diego's New Tradition
April 17 - June 6, 1999
San Diego is the site of an exciting new direction in American
furniture design. A group of artists associated with San Diego
State University’s
furniture program and its director, Wendy Maruyama, are at the
core of this movement. This show presents the work of program
founders Maruyama and Larry Hunter along with 24 program graduates.
The Tribes of XYR
February 6 - March 28, 1999
Full Deck Art Quilts
December 5 - January 17, 1998
Beyond Frida
September 27 - November 15, 1998
OMA Regional 1: State of the Art in San Diego County
July 18 - September 6, 1998
Current Clay and Fiber
May 9 - June 28, 1998
James Hubbell Retrospective
January 24 - April 18, 1998
West Coast Painting and Sculpture
October 6, 1997 - January 4, 1998
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