Past Exhibitions

Beginning with monoprints and photography from the 1980s, this exhibition follows the lineage of Nixson Borah’s practice towards his recent digital composites.

California-based artists explore the environmental and social impacts of the fast fashion industry

An exhibition of nature-themed artworks featuring regional photographers

Home/Work presents the work of fourteen notable contemporary artists whose work together questions our collective experiences of home. The works in this exhibition reflect on the unique and intimate experiences of the artists who made them and invite us to consider how we achieve balance in our busy lives of making home and making work.

Four Central Coast sculptors explore action in the abstract

A public art piece by Camille Hoffman on SLOMA’s lawn area. The sculpture pays tribute to the legacy of Filipinx people in California.

Anderson creates paintings and drawings that share a collective uneasiness and human vulnerability reflective of our current times

Digital artist Neil Mendoza gives form to pressing environmental and sustainability issues by using humor, motion, and familiar objects

An exhibition of contemporary fine craft artworks created in the spirit of remembrance and commemoration

Alyssa Monks creates photorealistic paintings exploring the often-hidden emotions within us all through semi-transparent filters of glass, vinyl, steam, and water.

Artist Camille Hoffman uses materials collected from childhood and her everyday life to craft imaginary landscapes that are grounded in accumulation, rehabilitation, personal narrative, and historical critique.

An exhibition of paintings exploring the symbolism and interpretations of the female body, featuring Central Coast artists Lena Rushing and David Limrite

The act of printmaking itself is intimate, from the laborious processes such as woodcarving, acid etching, and meticulous ink application, to the revealing of an image from a plate. Similarly, portraiture has an individualistic, intimate, and vulnerable nature to it.

Rooted in the unique specificity of each artist’s story, these works depict the value found in the simple moments of our lives, an invitation to create and contemplate, and a reminder to be present in moments that you might otherwise pass by.

The 2nd annual mural project painted on the exterior walls of the Museum, this artwork was inspired by the legend of Calafia and emphasizes the often forgotten role of Black women throughout history.

Artist Faig Ahmed’s monumental works invite us to consider ways traditional and digital culture can be reconciled and revolutionized into something with more flexible boundaries.

Kinetic creatures explore a mother’s physical sensitivity to their child’s constant touch. Visitors are invited to interact with the forms, as suggested by adjacent action words.

While photography has historically been valued for its ability to depict our world objectively, these photographers seek to reveal it to us by abstracting the objects and moments they observe.

Explore a history of events that changed the landscape of California from an Indigenous perspective, from the Spanish settlement in 1769, through the “discovery” of gold in 1848, and the resultant displacement and relocation of Indigenous people

As objects become familiar, it can be easy to overlook their form. One such item is the vessel: an object that is both practical and sacred and holds both concrete and symbolic meaning

The figures in Brickel’s works are partly representations of himself but are also standalone actors that perform and draw out emotional distress and catharsis to which we are made witness

While maintaining an active sculptural practice, Mark di Suvero has begun making paintings textured with phosphorescent and fluorescent paint. These paintings are both visible in the light of day and glow in darkness

As with the intrinsic subject matter of art, the paper incorporated into these artworks is often directly sourced from the artists’ lives, found during experiences, adventures, or from their immediate surroundings

As the California climate continues to change, and the rates of wildfires rise, we are challenged to deeply consider our relationships with the places we inhabit

The talented and diverse makers in this exhibition intentionally transcend the limits of the medium and expand the definition of what prints can be

Explore different artists’ personal interpretations of both the physical and introspective spaces that they seek to bring calm, to heal, to bring joy, or to help us move forward

A juried film festival showcasing contemporary digital artists, presented in conjunction with the Digital Art Salon

Montilla’s work explores three fundamental parts of who she is: her experience of being a woman; her feelings of acculturation; and her commitment to environmental sustainability

Artists from the LA-based collective SUPERCOLLIDER delve into the stratified layers of each water column to demonstrate the interconnectedness of all water bodies to communicate the resilience of marine biodiversity in the face of our ecological impact

A juried exhibition of contemporary California artists working in digital media, film, and installation art

While protests in major cities garnered the bulk of media attention, it was sustained actions in smaller communities like San Luis Obispo that made up the bulk of what is now recognized as the largest civil rights movement in history, Black Lives Matter

Three artists took inspiration from artwork they have created in the past to create something new by deconstructing the piece to create a new piece or creating a new piece inspired by something older

Using drawn screenprints and layers of painting on transparent vinyl, this installation invites visitors to step inside this dream-like, luminous room constructed in the heart of Mission Plaza

Explore the highly crafted lithography prints from Ocean Works Press. Artists include Deborah Remington, Raúl Anguiano, Veloy Vigil, Conrad Schwable, and Kay Mortenson

The first large-scale mural painted on four of the walls of the Museum, and inspired by the artist’s upbringing in the city of Bayamón near San Juan in Puerto Rico