Bakersfield College Faculty Exhibit Puts 26 Works on View Free Through October 8

What is on display

Bakersfield College's Wylie and May Louise Jones Art Gallery is hosting its 2026 Art Faculty Exhibit through October 8. The college says the show contains 26 works by 14 faculty members across painting, printmaking, photography, ceramics, sculpture and textiles. Admission is free, and the gallery is open to students and the wider community.

The exhibition is inside the Grace Van Dyke Library on the Panorama campus. Posted gallery hours are Monday through Thursday from 2 to 5 p.m. Because college schedules can change around classes and campus operations, a visitor making a special trip can confirm hours through the gallery page or its listed email before leaving.

A faculty show is more than student instruction

The college reported that more than 200 people attended the September 10 opening reception. Gallery director Angel Lesnikowski described the exhibition as a view into faculty members' individual studio practices. That framing matters: the participants are educators, but the works are their own current artistic production rather than classroom exercises or anonymous teaching examples.

Seeing several media together also makes comparison possible. Viewers can examine how a photographic series handles sequence, how clay or textile works occupy space, and how printmaking's repeated image differs from a one-off painting. No specialized vocabulary is required; dates, materials, scale and visible technique provide an evidence-based starting point.

Temporary exhibit versus permanent collection

The faculty show should not be confused with the college's permanent collection. Bakersfield College says the gallery's holdings include more than 90 works and names artists such as Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera and Charles White. A permanent collection is an institutional body of works cared for over time; a temporary exhibition is a scheduled selection installed for a limited run.

That difference helps visitors ask precise questions. Which of the 26 works were made recently? Were any created for this show? How did the curator arrange different media? A famous name in the permanent collection does not mean that artist's work appears in the current faculty installation.

Plan a useful visit

The result is a no-cost local arts visit with a defined endpoint and enough variety for a class assignment, family outing or independent look at what Bakersfield College's working artists are making now.

• Go before October 8 during the posted Monday-through-Thursday, 2–5 p.m. window.
• Use the college's campus map to locate the Grace Van Dyke Library and allow time for parking; verify current visitor-parking rules rather than assuming a campus space is unrestricted.
• Photograph only when gallery rules permit it, and record the wall label before sharing a work so the artist and title remain attached.
• Compare two works in different media using material, scale and composition—not simply whether each one is personally appealing.