A list of all the changing and permanent exhibitions at the museum.

Press: please visit our Press Section

15th Annual Días de los Muertos/Days of the Dead
Oct 8–Dec 7, 2008

Sal Garcia, Columbarium. (Detail).

The museum’s popular tribute to the Mexican/Central American tradition of honoring the dead. Altars (ofrendas) and installations by local artists, schools, and community organizations. Hayward artist and educator Fernando Hernandez is guest curator.

LA PAINT
Oct 4, 2008–Mar 8, 2009

Robert Williams, Hot Rod Race, 1976. Acrylic on board. 16.25" x 12.75"..

A survey of 60 works by 11 artists who reflect the diversity of style, medium, and content in current SoCal painting. Chief Curator of Art Philip Linhares traveled 1500 miles through the Southland, finally choosing Linda Stark, Brian Fahlstrom, Steve Galloway, Loren Holland, Hyesook Park, Steve Roden, Don Suggs, Esther Pearl Watson, Robert Williams, and Armando Lerma and Carlos Ramirez (who collaborate as The Date Farmers).

The Art and History of Early California
December 1, 2007– Ongoing

Exhibition of the museum's collection explores the story of California from the

Grace Carpenter Hudson, To-Tole, 1894. Oil on canvas. Oakland Museum of California.

First Peoples through the Gold Rush. Through a display of art and artifacts, experience the rich history, diverse beginnings, and artistic and cultural heritage of early California.

TOLD FROM A TOTEM
Sixty students (grades 9-12) from Oakland High School’s Visual Arts Academy created contemporary totem poles, using recycled materials,

Daisy Velasco (grade 11), “The Real Me,” 2007. Mixed media.

during sessions led by Oakland High teachers and Oakland Museum of California staff. The students personalized their work with symbols, plaster, paint, and ornaments. The totems differ wildly one from another.

The Oakland High School Partnership Program is in its eighth year. The 2007 collaboration between the museum and Oakland High’s Visual Arts Academy was led by Christine Lashaw, artist and museum preparator, and Carol Squicci, assistant project coordinator. Student participants came from Keith (K-Dub) Williams’s and Jack Begrin’s art classes. Ongoing.

Gallery of California Art -Art
Transformation underway – reopens in 2009

California: A Place, A People, A Dream-History
Transformation underway – reopens in 2009

Walk Across California-Natural Sciences
The Natural Sciences Gallery takes the visitor on a simulated journey through California's diverse ecosystems, observing plants and animals found from the Pacific coastline to the High Sierra and the inland desert. Exhibits contain approximately 2,500 natural specimens organized around basic ecological principles highlighting relationships among plants, animals, geology and climate. The Aquatic California Gallery presents an overview of our aquatic environments, including the oceans, rivers and streams and estuaries. Natural Sciences Department, first level.