In Space and Splendor: A Topography of Wildness

Nov 18, 2023 – Mar 17, 2024

Mixed media works by Alisa Sikelianos-Carter exploring Black mythologies and ancestral power

John Barrett: More Than What We See

Sep 1 – Nov 27, 2023

A retrospective of the late Central Coast artist

Vanessa Wallace-Gonzales: I Am Medicine

Jul 7 – Oct 2, 2023

A mixed-media interactive exhibition exploring healing and nostalgia through sight, taste, touch, and smell

Lisa Solomon: Cellular Memory

Jun 2 – Aug 28, 2023

An exhibition exploring issues of race in California, complex identity politics, and a large-scale knot installation

Marcia Harvey and Elliot Perkins: Call and Response

Apr 7 – Jul 3, 2023

A joint exhibition of two Central Coast artists

Leslie Sutcliffe: Mementos of Six Millennia

Oct 6, 2023 – Jan 29, 2024

Screen prints, drawings, and paintings that invite viewers to create their own personal meaning

Anila Quayyum Agha: Liminal Space

Jul 15 – Nov 12, 2023

Light sculptures and works on paper

Critical Encounters: The Layered Vision of Nixson Borah

Jan 6 – Apr 3, 2023

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

Marela Zacarías: Storytelling

Mar 13 – Jul 9, 2023

An exhibition of floating sculptures and geometric abstractions by Mexican artist Marela Zacarías

Charlie Rugg: And Also…

Mar 3 – May 29, 2023

A series of paintings by the San Luis Obispo-based artist

Dirty Laundry

Dec 2 2022 – Feb 27 2023

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

Nature of Acquaintance

Nov 4 2022 - Jan 2 2023

An exhibition of nature-themed artworks featuring regional photographers

Home/Work

Nov 19, 2022 – Mar 5, 2023

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.

Abstr(act)ion

Oct 7 – Nov 28, 2022

Four Central Coast sculptors explore action in the abstract

Storied Waters: Dreams of Bayanihan

Jun 2022 – Mar 2023

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

Nicole Irene Anderson: Breaking Point

Aug 26 – Oct 31, 2022

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

Neil Mendoza: Pretty Rubbish

Aug 5–Oct 3, 2022

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

For the Sake of Keeping

Jun 3–Aug 1, 2022

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

Alyssa Monks: Be Perfectly Still, A Retrospective

Aug 27–Nov 13, 2022

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

Camille Hoffman: See and Missed

May 28–Aug 22, 2022

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.

Poem of the Body: David Limrite & Lena Rushing

Apr 1–May 29, 2022

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

Imprinted: Printmaking and Portraiture

Mar 18–May 23, 2022

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.

In The Moment

Feb 4–Mar 27, 2022

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.

Erin LeAnn Mitchell: Calafia was Here

2022

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.

Faig Ahmed: Collision

Feb 12–May 15, 2022

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.

Marrin Lee Martinez: Touchy Touchy

Dec 4, 2021–Mar 14, 2022

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.

Exposure/Composure

Dec 4, 2021–Jan 30, 2022

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.

Deconstructed Freedom

Oct 1–Nov 28, 2021

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

Content(s): Revisiting the Vessel

Oct 1–Nov 28, 2021

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

I’d Tell You If I Could

Nov 13, 2021–Feb 6, 2022

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

Mark di Suvero: History and Its Shadow

Aug 14–Nov 7, 2021

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

From a Commonplace

Aug 14–Sep 26, 2021

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

Returning Home

Jul 2–Sep 26, 2021

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 Undition

June 4–August 8, 2021

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

Finding Spaces

April 2–May 30, 2021

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

Digital Shorts Film Festival

Apr 2 - Apr 4, 2021

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

Elisa Ortega Montilla: Objectifying

May 29–June 27, 2021

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

Atmospheres Deep

May 29–August 1, 2021

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 Digital Art Salon

March 5–May 2, 2021

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

We All Bleed

March 5–May 2, 2021

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

Then and Now

January 8–February 28, 2021

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

Through The Flowers

Mar 31 - Apr 29, 2021

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

Grease, Water, and Stone: An Ocean Works Retrospective

January 8–March 28, 2021

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

Juan Alberto Negroni: Pacificaribbean

2021

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

Click here for an archived list of exhibitions at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art (and our previous name, the San Luis Obispo Art Center) between 1975 and 2020. If you have information to fill the occasional gaps in our exhibition record, please contact SLOMA’s Operations and Collections Manager, Erica Ellis.