The Visual Arts Program provides access and connection to the arts and culture landscape in San Diego, offering unique opportunities to local and regional artists. Featured exhibitions can be viewed at Central Library’s Judith Harris Art Gallery. Rotating exhibitions by local artists and creative groups are hosted at several library locations throughout the year. The Visual Arts Program demonstrates the library’s role as a cultural institution embracing a broad range of disciplines while assisting San Diego artists to achieve wider local, regional and national attention.

For more information about library exhibitions, email us at OnView@sandiego.gov.

Judith Harris Art Gallery

Onview January 31, 2026 – April 18, 2026

M(other) Tongue brings together artists who use textile to examine the interconnected experiences of migration, displacement, and cultural inheritance. Drawing on textile traditions rooted in women’s domestic and communal practices, the works approach stitching, weaving, and dyeing as forms of mark making; methods of carrying ancestral stories across borders and generations. In M(other) Tongue, cloth becomes both archive and language, expressing the tensions of uprooting and the desire to remain connected to one’s past. Each piece invites viewers to reflect on how identity is continually woven from personal narratives, shared histories, and the ongoing work of becoming.

Featuring work by Leila Khalizadeh Aghdami, Chitra Gopalakrishnan, Kirstyn Hom, Yasmine Kasem, Shirin Towfiq.

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 31, 2026 | 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. 

Featuring LIVE DJ vinyl set by @Maeormaenot and small bites sponsored by the Friends of the Central Library.

OnView - Local Arts

Central Library- 2nd Floor
Helen Redman
February 2 – March 31, 2026

Central Library- 2nd Floor
Mike McCarley
October 6 – December 31, 2026

La Jolla/Riford
Remember Us The Holocaust (RUTH)
December 14, 2025 to June 1, 2026

La Jolla/Riford
Color it Contemporary
November 4, 2025 – February 27, 2026

Mission Hills
Manuel Dickey
February 2 – 28, 2026

Rancho Bernardo
John Linthurst
January 28 – March 27, 2026

Serra Mesa
Craft Collective
February 2 – May 31, 2026

Skyline Hills
Zamorano Fine Arts Academy
February 6 – February 27, 2026

Explore past exhibitions at the Central Library Art Gallery, including behind-the-scenes content and virtual tours.