This month at CCA: April 2025
Explore a lineup of free public events at California College of the Arts in San Francisco
San Francisco, CA—March 27, 2025—California College of the Arts (CCA) invites the public to experience its newly expanded campus with an exciting lineup of free exhibitions, artist talks, lectures, and special events this April. Don’t miss newly-opened exhibitions, including Reunited, featuring 12 Bay Area artists from the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ (NMWA) Women to Watch program, and the Fine Arts Senior Exhibition, a three-week presentation of capstone work by graduating students. Special events include the VCS Spring Symposium, where speakers from the CCA community share unique perspectives on visual and critical methodologies.
Exhibitions
Reunited Opening Reception
Wednesday, April 2, 5–7 pm
CCA Campus Gallery | 1480 17th Street
Gallery hours: Wednesday, 11 am–7 pm; Thursday & Friday, 11 am–4 pm
On view April 2 through May 17, Reunited celebrates 12 Bay Area artists from the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ (NMWA) Women to Watch program whose creative careers have been driven by resilience, artistic excellence, and collective support.
Spring 2025 Fine Arts Senior Exhibition
Novack Gallery | 145 Hooper Street
Gallery hours: Wednesday, 11 am–7 pm; Thursday & Friday, 11 am–4 pm
The Fine Arts Senior Exhibition is a three-week showcase of capstone work by graduating students. Through installation, critique, documentation, and celebration, students gain valuable experience as they prepare for their professional careers.
Week One
Wednesday, April 2 through Friday, April 4
Week Two
Wednesday, April 9 through Friday, April 11
Week Three
Wednesday, April 16 through Friday, April 18
For the Time Being: Graduate Fine Arts Exhibition
Wednesday, April 2 through Sunday, April 6
ICA SF | 345 Montgomery Street
Gallery hours: Wednesday–Sunday: 11 am–5 pm; Thursdays: 11 am–7 pm
In collaboration with ICA SF, first year students from CCA's MFA program present, For the Time Being, bringing provocative and sensitive approaches to contemporary art. They address urgent subjects like mourning and displacement, the body, existential dilemmas, altered landscapes, and craft as storytelling.
Hallowed Opening Reception
Friday, April 4, 6:30–8:30 pm
PLAySPACE Gallery | 145 Hooper Street
Gallery hours: Monday–Friday, 9 am–5 pm
On view through May 3, Hallowed is a group exhibition that honors, recognizes, and reflects on the abundance of altars that have surfaced recently in Bay Area art spaces.
STEADY: Michelle Lopez and Ester Partegàs
Through Saturday, April 12
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts | 145 Hooper Street
Gallery hours: Wednesday–Saturday, noon–6 pm
STEADY, featuring artists Michelle Lopez and Ester Partegàs, challenges conventional notions of balance, materiality, and shared space through precarious and playful yet powerful sculptures.
Lectures, talks, and readings
Jennifer Ly and James Leng: Practicing Softly
Thursday, April 3, 5–6:30 pm
Nave Presentation Space | 145 Hooper Street
Jennifer Ly and James Leng, principals of the San Francisco-based architectural practice Figure, discuss their thoughtful approach to architecture, characterized by sensitivity to context, material, and human experience.
Kari Marboe Endowed Lecture with Cathy Lu
Thursday, April 3, 6–7:30 pm
Timken Hall | 145 Hooper Street
Organized by the CCA Fine Arts Division and the First Year Program, this artist talk honors Kari Marboe’s legacy of curiosity and storytelling through material. Embracing Marboe’s investigative approach, Cathy Lu explores traditional Chinese art objects and symbols to challenge perceptions of Asian American identity and authenticity.
Michael Washington Lecture
Monday, April 7, 5:30–7 pm
Hooper Pavilion (N203) | 145 Hooper Street
As part of CCA’s Visual & Critical Studies Forum, faculty member Michael Washington explores aesthetics as both politics and practice, along with his book project, which narrates a cultural history of Black feminist criticism.
Our Neurodiverse Future: A reading and conversation with Chris Martin
Tuesday, April 8, 5:30–7 pm
Nave Presentation Space | 145 Hooper Street
Poet Chris Martin reads from May Tomorrow Be Awake, Field Guide to Tilted Thinking, and works from Milkweed Editions' neurodivergent Multiverse imprint, which he curates. Martin discusses poetry, teaching, and neurodiverse futures, followed by a Q&A and reception.
Giselle Bailey Artist Lecture
Wednesday, April 9, 6–7:30 pm
Nave Presentation Space | 145 Hooper Street
Hosted by CCA Film, Film Chair Giselle Bailey presents a lecture on her boundary-pushing approach to documentary storytelling. Through a diasporic lens, Bailey explores the intersections of spirituality, radical self-definition, and the ways youth are forging new mythologies. CCA President David Howse will moderate a Q&A.
Does the sun have a translucent shell? launch party
Friday, April 11, 6–8 pm
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts | 145 Hooper Street
Celebrate the launch of Does the sun have a translucent shell?, the fifth book in A Series of Open Questions, published by the CCA Wattis Institute and Sternberg Press, and distributed by MIT Press. Enjoy drinks, snacks, music, and short readings by CCA faculty contributors.
Golden Age Bombay: A celebration of Alka Joshi's latest novel
Tuesday, April 15, 6–8 pm
Nave Presentation Space | 145 Hooper Street
As part of the MFA Writing Visiting Lecture Series, best-selling author and CCA alum Alka Joshi (MFA Writing 2011) joins MFA Writing Chair Jasmin Darznik for a conversation about her latest novel, Six Days in Bombay, followed by a book signing, music, prizes, and chai with sweets.
Eddie Aparicio Artist Talk
Wednesday, April 16, 6–7:30 pm
Timken Hall | 145 Hooper Street
Hosted by CCA’s Graduate Fine Arts division, artist Eddie Rodolfo Aparicio delivers the 2025 Ted Purves Social Practice Artist Talk, exploring the connections between Central America and Los Angeles, challenging notions of community, history, and nativity. The recipient of the 2025 Ted Purves Social Practice Award in Graduate Fine Arts will be announced at the lecture.
Sandra Vivanco Memorial Lecture
Thursday, April 17, 5–6:30 pm
Nave Presentation Space | 145 Hooper Street
Luis Enrique Flores and Armida Fernández of Estudio ALA (Guadalajara, Mexico) present the fifth Sandra Vivanco Memorial Lecture, Fields to Frames: A Collage of Rural Culture. They discuss their approach to architecture and design in rural contexts, integrating local traditions, materials, and histories.
Elizabeth Mangini and Camilla Salvaneschi in conversation
Tuesday, April 22, 5–7 pm
Nave Presentation Space | 145 Hooper Street
As part of CCA’s Visual & Critical Studies Writers Talk Series, faculty members Elizabeth Mangini and Camilla Salvaneschi will discuss Mangini's latest publication, Seeing through Closed Eyelids: Giuseppe Penone and the Nature of Sculpture (University of Toronto Press). The publication considers the question: Can a work of art help us know our world differently?
Yvonne Fang Lecture
Wednesday, April 23, 7–8 pm
Nave Presentation Space | 145 Hooper Street
As part of the Interaction Design & New Media Lecture Series, artist, designer, and developer Yvonne Fang delves into her recent work on interactive installations with real-time image generation and game engines, creativity support tools, and experimental human-AI co-creative systems.
Special events
Musical Performance by Guillermo Galindo
Thursday, April 10, 6–8 pm
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts | 145 Hooper Street
As part of the Hiwa K is on our mind research season, multidisciplinary post-Mexican artist Guillermo Galindo presents a new performance from his Sonic Borders series. Galindo uses found objects sourced from the US-Mexico border as instruments in an immersive musical performance.
The 2025 VCS Spring Symposium
Saturday, April 26, 11 am–2 pm
Nave Presentation Space | 145 Hooper Street
Speakers from the CCA community bring a unique perspective on visual and critical methodologies, exploring how visual culture operates as both a tool of critique and transformation through inclusive and interdisciplinary perspectives.
Annual Bay Area Undergraduate Art History Symposium
Saturday, April 26, 1–5 pm
Timken Hall | 145 Hooper Street
Student speakers from California College of the Arts, Stanford University, UC Davis, Santa Clara University, San Jose State University, St. Mary’s College of California, the University of San Francisco, CSU East Bay, and UC Berkeley come together and present their undergraduate research.