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.

Featured Exhibitions

Join us for the Opening Reception on Saturday, Feb.  22, 2025, from 4 – 6 p.m.
Enjoy LIVE music curation by Itza Vilaboy and small bites sponsored by the Friends of the Central Library.

OnView Feb.  22 – May 4, 2025...Now extended until June 15, 2025.

A drawing's most profound potential lies in its ability to shape how we perceive and understand the world around us. Few means of expression can rival its directness. Drawing is personal, immediate and intentional, and reveals an artist’s state of mind. 
 
The Judith Harris Art Gallery at the Central Library is pleased to present The Drawing Show, a 25th-anniversary exhibition championing skilled San Diego artists. The Visual Arts Program founder, Mark Elliot Lugo, curated the first inaugural Drawing Show, which has included over 82 local artists in invitationals over the years. Lugo believed drawing is not just a skill but an exercise in teaching the eye to “see” - a process that transcends mere observation and encourages a deeper perception.   
 
This year’s invitational features Celeste Byers, Hugo Crosthwaite, Steve Gibson, Amanda Kazemi, Neil Kendricks, Joshua Moreno, Annalise Neil, David Peña, Melanie Taylor, and Eden de la Vara—ten local artists who show us how they “see” through their exemplary mark making. From traditional figure renderings to imaginative constructs of landscape and abstraction, drawing remains a space of open experimentation, where the hand decides whether a piece is meant to convey a deeper meaning or exist for mere play. Each mark sends a message—where past, present and future coexist. The Drawing Show invites the viewer to engage with drawing as more than just a tool or technique—it's a vital method of communication. 

OnView - Local Arts

Central Library-Lobby
Language of Silencing
The AjA Project
April 12 – June 27, 2025

Central Library- Popular Library
Take Me to the Water: Histories of the Black Pacific
March 24, 2025 – May 18, 2025

Central Library-2^nd Floor
We the People
SD Unified for Democracy
February 22 – May 4, 2025

La Jolla/Riford
Remember Us The Holocaust (RUTH)
Jan. 12, 2025 – Dec. 14, 2025

Mission Hills-Hillcrest/Knox
The Stiletto Collection
Beth Smith
March 6 - May 15, 2025

Mission Valley
San Diego Portrait Club
March 1, 2025 – April 30, 2025

 

Otay Mesa-Nestor
James Hubbell: Architecture of Jubilation-
Lado A Lado

Pacific Beach/Taylor
Let's Get Wild
Nona Perrin
April 2 - June 10, 2025

Point Loma/Hervey
Tom Baldauf
April 1 - June 30, 2025

Rancho Bernardo
Personal Connections
Joan Bonetti
April 2 - June 30, 2025

San Ysidro
The Future is Now
A King Tides Photography Exhibition
March 17 - April 19, 2025

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