Detour: A Collage-a-Rama Exhibition

Exhibition Dates: April 11-May 9, 2026

Barbara Pollak-Lewis, Curator

​

The medium of collage explores how our perceptions can constructively change over time.  Artists manifest new stories from old scraps that reflect the fleetingness of nostalgia.  Accumulated and manipulated bits of memorabilia and ephemera serve to compose the indefinite, continued progress of existence. It’s a practice of synthesis where images and materials from the past are placed together to create a new whole - manifesting our present and pointing ideas towards the future. 

“Collage is the cut, the tear, the rupture and the overlay of our contemporary culture. It is the hybrid language of urbanity—remixed, re-contextualized, and wholly built from the fragments of daily life.” 
-Pavel Zoubok
 
Featured Artists: Laura Abrams, Elizabeth Addison, Carrington Arredondo, Glenn Bachmann, Nikki Bengal, Johnny Botts, Susan Birnbaum, Diana Elrod, Erin Feller (Airy Waters), Valerie Harris, Mary Lynn Kecskemeti, Maureen Letton, Stephen B Lewis, Anna M. Morrow, Priscilla Otani, Barbara Pollak-Lewis, Clare Schmehl, Maureen Shields, Steven Sweetser, Anna Walters, Tanya Wilkinson, Gary Winter
 

Roadmap

Exhibition Dates: April 11-May 9, 2026

 

Curators: Rachel Leibman & Barbara Pollak-Lewis

A roadmap is a plan that guides progress to a goal. The journey towards that object can be as important as the result. As artists, we need to create plans, whether detailed or amorphous, but we also must be open to the unexpected and surprising directions that the process can take us.
 
For this show, we have asked artists to explore the theme of the roadmap. This can include personal geographies, diasporic passages, generational legacies, life stages, journeys of enjoyment or enlightenment, or simply the maps we use to get from one place to another. At its core, the art should question how we navigate identity, time, memory and space, either physically or metaphorically..


 

Arthur Tress: Observations at the Water's Edge

Exhibit Dates: Oct 12 – Nov 30, 2024 

Curated by: Barbara Pollak-Lewis and Melissa Castro Keesor  

With this small sampling of imagery, we’ve culled photographs from Arthur’s recent projects including his 30 years spent living in and documenting his life in Cambria and his recent project documenting Mare Island. This diamond-shaped body of work captures the essence of his ongoing obsession with shape, line, and composition. Arthur draws inspiration from beach surroundings and the people he encounters on his photographic journey. Many images in this exhibition such as Flags, Mare Island, Ferry Boat Window were photographed during the making of the documentary “Arthur Tress: Water’s Edge”, which will be screened in the Harvey Milk Center for the Arts ballroom on November 14, 2024.  

​

The Music of Art

Curated by Rachel Leibman and Barbara Pollak-Lewis

Exhibition: April 13- May 4, 2026

​

Music and visual art share deep connections in their ability to evoke emotions and communicate ideas without the need for words. The cross-pollination of ideas between these two art forms nurtures a continuous cycle of creativity, motivating artists from one discipline to express their thoughts and feelings in the language of another. This exhibit explores this intricate link, demonstrating the different ways that music guides and inspires visual artists. 

Music serves as a special muse for the artists in this show, deeply influencing the way they conceive and construct their art. These artists work in very diverse styles and media. In addition, they have found unique methods of incorporating music into their art, including creating ingenious musical instruments and musical scores, working with instrument parts, rendering images of iconic musicians, and painting the music they hear. The pieces are in turn insightful, ethereal, whimsical, and wildly imaginative. The combination makes for a show that is exciting, curious and oddly cohesive in its cacophony.

 

"Through The Looking Glass"

Curated by Barbara Pollak-Lewis and Paulette Traverso

 

EXHIBITION: June 17 - August 12, 2023
"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?" - from “Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There”
 
Based on the idea that nothing is exactly what it seems, “Through the Looking Glass” explores an alternate universe, transformation, a journey or exploration into or outside of yourself. 
 ​

FEATURED ARTISTS:  Silvi Alcivar, Elizabeth Ashcroft, Andrea Bergen, Lorraine Bonner, Lisa Clarke, Victor V. De La Rocha, Nathalie Fabri, Kate Godfrey, Dianne Hoffman, Eric Kelly, J.L. King, Linda Larson, Suzanne Long, Aris Moore, Katie McCann, Mansur Nurullah, Priscilla Otani, Maja Planinac, Barbara Pollak-Lewis, Lola Reed, Paulette Traverso, Stephen C. Wagner, Peter Whitehead, Dave Yoas

"Who Do You Think you Are: The Art of the Self-Portrait"

Curated by Barbara Pollak-Lewis

​

EXHIBITION: May 14 - June 11, 2022

​This exhibition features non-traditional self-portraits, highlighting work that goes beyond the definition of typical or traditional. Many of these portraits are distorted, use unconventional materials or experiment with the concept of "Who Am I?”, with regards to gender, race, cultural identity, experiences and background.
 

FEATURED ARTISTS:  Amy Ahlstrom, Rebecca Archer, Diana Corvelle, Tracy Cox, Alisson Gothz, Nell Jehu, Kacy Jung, Rayos Magos, Leslie Plato-Smith, Barbara Pollak-Lewis, Lola Reed, Paulette Traverso, Claudia Villalta, Mark Wescott, & Jun Yang