Ava Payne introduced Katie Sanderson, Exhibition Director for the Oceanside Museum of Art. OMA is a crowned jewel among regional museums in America, focusing primarily on Southern California artists, both contemporary and historically. It is located on Pier View Dr., 100 yards east of Oceanside Library, next to City Hall. At any given time, the museum runs 4 to 5 exhibits, diverse in tone and genre. Katie described the process of developing and curating exhibits, bringing in works, and teaming them at times with educational programs.
She talked about Art Quest, which has piloted programs for third graders to teach literacy through art, as well as ongoing activities for other elementary kids in the Oceanside Unified School District. She also described the Artists Alliance, a program for working artists that provides juried competitions, chances to exhibit in outside galleries and centers, and a host of other benefits.
Katie then used the current roster of exhibits to showcase the diversity of OMA, a non-profit that does amazing work on its limited (for a museum of its size) $1.5 million annual budget. They include Ukranian fabric and fiber artist Valya, one of whose tapestries that feature symbols of earlier civilizations in the Ukraine is 25 x 25 feet; National Watercolor Society: Southern California Inspirations, focusing on California’s distinct watercolor stylings the past century through 21 masters and 58 works; San Diego Surreal, a mixture of regional and legendary surrealists (Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, etc.); Matthew Barnes: Painter of the Night, the first solo show in 70 years featuring the mastermind of California Noir in the early 20th century (Barnes died in 1951); Roland Revis: Unrepentant and Unapologetic Flowers, a collection of brilliant human-sized works; Along the Transect Line, focusing on the relationship between creatures and climate change; Brian Kesinger: Dream It Yourself, a wonderful exhibit of original work from this Disney Imagineer and illustrator of the famed Otto the Octopus children’s books (he worked on Aladdin, among other Disney credits); and Dress Rehearsal, which opens July 27 with the annual Museum Gala.
Finally, Pete Rogers stepped up and announced that Oceanside’s first fire station, built in 1919, is being donated to OMA as Oceanside builds a new station, part of the city’s massive development undertaking. He added that OMA memberships run in many classifications, from $60 for basic memberships to $10,000. (Side note: Our Pete Rogers, Ava Payne and Malena Bennett are all on the OMA Board of Directors).