Recent News
File format .grad | Graphic Design BFA Exhibition
Apr 29, 2025
The exhibition “File format .grad” will feature the work of 32 graduating seniors in Cal Poly’s graphic design program. A reception for friends, family, alumni, and the community will be held on Saturday, May 10 from 5:00pm until 6:30pm. Show runs from May 9 - 15
2025 Juried Student Exhibition
Apr 2, 2025
The juried student show is a time for the department to celebrate the art we make here by displaying it for Art and Design classmates and the public to view. Selected student work will be displayed in the gallery from April 4th through April 25th.
In the Garage, I Feel Safe. No One Cares About My Ways
Jan 22, 2025
James Edmondson is a type designer based in Oakland, California. In 2015, he started OH no Type Co., an independent font foundry that creates bespoke and retail typefaces. With a background in lettering, and a deep appreciation for lively typefaces that are uniquely beautiful, and fun to read, Edmondson’s goal has always been to create quality work that highlights underappreciated genres. He respects history without reinventing the wheel—organic over geometric, lively over perfect, and good spacing above all else.
Strange Birds | Heidi Neilson
Oct 22, 2024
Satellites, nicknamed “birds” in aerospace and ham radio circles, are critical to our lives but are essentially invisible. Heidi Neilson’s exhibition Strange Birds uses video, electronics, prints, photographs and book works to investigate our relationship with satellites. The different works expose the relationship from different angles—our history and future visions—as well as how these orbiting devices extend our sensory capacities and allow us to participate in environments which we would be unable to perceive well, or even survive at all, ourselves.
Alumni Show
Aug 27, 2024
The Art & Design Department is Celebrating its 55th Anniversary!
2024 BFA Exhibition
May 21, 2024
The 2024 BFA show features the culmination of these student’s hard work here at Cal Poly in the Department of Art and Design. This year features two concurrent events:
“After All, I Exist” is the Photo/Video component and is located in the Dexter Foyer right outside the gallery. “Safety in the Hot Shop” is the Studio Art component, located in the University Art Gallery.
Juried Student Exhibition
May 15, 2024
The juried student show is a time for the department to celebrate the art we make here by displaying it for your classmates and the public to view.
This year we wer fortunate to have Alicia Piller as our juror. Alicia Piller was the solo artist behind, "Reconstructing Ruins," the latest show at the University Art Gallery. Piller is also faculty member at CalArts and University California of Irvine.
Alicia Piller : Reconstructing Ruins
Mar 20, 2024
Moving backwards then forwards in time, the sculptural works in Reconstructing Ruins tackle the legacy of Americana. Mimicking forms of cellular biology as a method to locate the root of human histories; this selection of works equally fixates on materiality and content. An exploration of history, examining the pathways through which we all got here today; the present, with its anxiety ridden energy; and the future, represented as objects in a liminal space of transition. Elements of nature are purposefully infused into almost every work, emphasizing the vital connection between humanity and the Earth. Glimpses of hope are seen through this integration, the hopes of planting new seeds that nourish the future for everyone.
LIFELIKE
Nov 30, 2023
LIFELIKE, a group exhibition curated by writer, curator and artist Katie Peyton Hofstadter, explores the work of ten artists logging biological, genetic, and behavioral information on a digital ledger, to invoke a conversation about body sovereignty in our technopresent. The exhibition also features an interactive and VR experience, presented by EPOCH, and a performance schedule spanning the Cal Poly University Gallery, the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art (SLOMA) and the Center for Expressive Technologies (CET).
June Edmonds
Mar 9, 2023
June Edmonds is an American painter,teacher, and public artist. Edmonds' work is notable for its colorful, layered surfaces that draw on meditative practices to explore the relationships between color, repetition, spiritual contemplation, the power of archetypical systems, and interpersonal connection. She is an active and prominent contributor to the Los Angeles area art scene, and is a member of both the Artist's Alliance of Southern California and the Women’s Caucus for Art. Her work has been shown extensively at such venues as the California African American Museum, Huntington Beach Art Center and Watts Towers Art Center. Her paintings are held in collections throughout the United States including the California African American Museum, Los Angeles; Mead Art Museum, Amhurst College, Amhurst, MA; Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA; David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University, Muncie, IN and The Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH.