Saint Mary's College Museum of Art

Harmonia Rosales

On view February 14 through June 23, 2024

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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.

PhotoUrbanism in San Francisco Bay, 1930s-1960s 

On view February 14 through June 23, 2024

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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.

Lisa Congdon 

Continuing through June 23, 2024

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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.

Art Practice Student Capstone Exhibition 

On view May 23 through June 23, 2024

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Across mediums of digital art, painting, photography, sculpture, video, and mixed-media, Chimeric bridges time, place, and perception. The artists hold a mirror up to the onlooker and invoke introspection on what it means to be human, commenting on identity, culture, and reality. Featured Artists include Alexa Andris, Olivia Bianic, Andrea Drenik, Bailey Drenik, Celeste Escobedo, Keaton Gershen-Lewis, Jade Johnson, Gabrielle Ly, Kylie Pavlik, Soren Peterson, Dominico Russo, and Kjersti Strong.