Saint Mary's College Museum of Art

Body
 

Current Exhibitions 

On view through June 23, 2023.

Hours: Wed-Sun, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed: Mon & Tues.

SMCMoA will be closed Friday, March 29, through Sunday, April 7, for Easter Break. 

Contact us: museum@stmarys-ca.edu | 925-631-4379

For updates and inspiration, follow us on social media using the hashtags #smcmoa and tagging us @smcmoa. 

ΩA Omega Alpha

Harmonia Rosales

On view February 14 through June 23, 2024

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Yemaya with Ibeji

Omega Alpha brings forward a visually enriched narrative that reimagines the traditional imagery of the black body in Christian art to empower lesser-known subjects through the canon of art history. Interweaving the oral histories and stories of Afro-Cuban religions, Rosales's depictions of the black body illuminate parallels in classical Western narratives while confronting the historical language of the Eurocentric male gaze. Referencing Greek, Roman, and European imagery, Omega Alpha inverts the narrative of how faith and orthodox-based stories are told, envisioning a new beginning rising from an end.

Image: Harmonia Rosales (b.1984) Yemaya with Ibeji, 2022, oil on wood panel, Courtesy of Azita and George Fatheree.

The Decisive Moment

PhotoUrbanism in San Francisco Bay, 1930s-1960s 

On view February 14 through June 23, 2024

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skyscraper being built

Photographers interested in the ‘decisive moment’ often utilized the camera’s innate mechanical qualities to capture real-time experiences and explore modern art concepts of pattern, contrast, and light through the lens. The practice dominated mid-20th-century photography in the West. From the construction of the Bay Bridge to the revolutionaries of the Black Panthers, this exhibition features work by Ruth-Marion Baruch, John Gutmann, Pirkle Jones, Peter Stackpole, Brett Weston, and Max Yavno, whose photographs captured moments that came to define social urban history in the San Francisco Bay Area. This exhibition is organized in collaboration with Pier 24 and the Pilara Family Foundation.

Image: Pirkle Jones (1914-2009) High-rise Construction and Coit Tower from Russian Hill, San Francisco, 1962, Vintage gelatin silver print, Promised Gift of the Pilara Family Foundation.

Hold it Lightly

Lisa Congdon 

Continuing through June 23, 2024

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Hold It Lightly by Lisa Congdon

Illustrator and fine artist Lisa Congdon's current body of work, Hold it Lightly, explores themes of joy, liberation, and radical inclusion displayed on printed matter featuring her bold, colorful illustrations and hand-lettering. Congdon's work elevates mundane, simple shapes into discourse with symbols from nature and the supernatural in pared-down, unfussy, colorful, organized arrangements and graphic renderings. Typically working in paint, Hold it Lightly represents the artist's first exhibit of printed matter. 

Image: Lisa Congdon (b. 1968) Hold it Lightly, 2023, Serigraph, ed.1/50, Courtesy of Lisa Congdon, Saint Mary's College Museum of Art Permanent Collection, 2023.3.17.

Vignettes

Select Views of SMCMoA’s Permanent Collection

On view February 14 through May 12, 2024

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William Keith painting

Vignettes brings forward curated windows into the permanent collection explored through themes, eras, and art history. Highlights include recent gifts into the permanent collection as well as the legacy collection of landscapes by William Keith. Featured works include modernist European prints by Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Ursula Fookes, Kathë Kollwitz, Marie Laurencin, and Jacques Villon: California waterways by Armin Hansen, Louis LaBrie, Bertha Stringer Lee, Gottardo Piazzoni, Lundy Siegriest and Mireille Piazzoni Wood; pop art by Corita Kent and Andy Warhol; abstract expressionism by Seong Moy and Ruth Wall; and contemporary art by Joe Doyle, David Maxim, Diane Rosenblum, and Kal Spelletich.

Image: William Keith (1838-1911) San Mateo Creek, c. 1900, oil on canvas, Gift of the University of the Pacific, Holt-Atherton Special Collections and Archives, Saint Mary's College Museum of Art Permanent Collection, 2023.4.1.

Woman looking at art in the galleries

Public Tours

Wednesdays at 11 a.m. 

& Saturdays at 2 p.m.

 

Looking for a guided museum experience? Join us for our standard walk-in exhibition tours. These tours are designed to be interactive and inquiry-based. Walk-in tours are offered during fall and spring exhibitions. 

 

Happenings & Programs

image of vistors in gallery

Explore art through doing!

Join us for a public tour, artist's talk, cello in the galleries, or art-making workshop. See what's coming up. 

Learn More