Local Art Walk

Oceanside Museum of Art

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Irving Gill. 1934 - original building

Frederick Fisher, 2008 - expansion

704 Pier View Way

Museum Website

📸 2014 © Brigid Parsons

From modest beginnings as a volunteer initiative in 1995, OMA has grown into a dynamic regional institution that contributes to the vibrant cultural life and economic development of Oceanside and the region. OMA presents innovative and exciting individual and group exhibitions of significant local and regional art, as well as exhibitions of national and international interest.

OMA occupies the venerable 1934 former City of Oceanside City Hall designed by pioneering San Diego architect Irving Gill and the Frederick Fisher designed Central Pavilion, which opened in 2008. During its first ten years in the Gill Building, OMA held an average of five exhibitions annually. Since its 2008 expansion, this number has grown to more than twenty exhibitions per year. Additionally, the museum holds an extensive array of programs and events including the popular Art After Dark, Free Family Art Day, 333's Jazz at the Museum, Artists@Work and Masterworks of Body Art. Five rotating galleries with more than 8,000 square feet, collections storage, a workshop and art staging areas, offices, an auditorium, and an outdoor terrace all combine to form the structure of the institution.