A local way into the program
A photograph of Dolores Huerta made in Kern County in 1991 will be part of a much larger conversation about home when the Bakersfield Museum of Art opens its fall exhibitions on October 1. The new season brings together borderland photography, urban life, imagined paradise and a rarely seen experiment in portraiture.
For local visitors, there is an immediate practical opportunity: the museum’s October calendar lists free First Friday admission on October 2, with extended hours from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. That gives families a way to explore the new work without the usual admission charge.
A Kern County connection in a wider landscape
Graciela Iturbide: Las Californias, scheduled through February 7, 2027, places the Huerta portrait alongside photographs from East Los Angeles and Baja California. The museum describes a substantial selection from Iturbide’s White Fence series, which began in Boyle Heights in 1986 and developed through relationships with the women she photographed over many years.
That history provides a useful way to approach the images: look for individual relationships before treating a photograph as a statement about an entire community. A portrait can document one person’s presence while also raising questions about how a place is remembered. The local Huerta image gives Kern readers a recognizable point of entry into a show that crosses geographic boundaries.
How people make a city
Layers of the City runs through April 25, 2027. Its mix of media examines the human experiences behind the built environment, including work, migration, family and community memory. Viewed alongside Iturbide’s photographs, the premise invites visitors to consider what a map leaves out: the people who give a neighborhood its character.
The museum’s fall lineup also includes Collecting Paradise, drawn from its permanent collection and scheduled through January 3. The exhibition considers paradise through both places and personal experience. Visitors might compare an image of a beautiful setting with a work about belonging and ask whether the two offer the same kind of refuge.
Juanita Donahoo: Colors of the Aura, scheduled through April 25, presents 22 portraits made during the 1930s in collaboration with Dora van Gelder Kunz. The museum frames the works around artistic and metaphysical exploration. That historical context matters: the portraits can be examined as expressions of the collaborators’ beliefs and visual language.
Plan the visit
The museum is at 1930 R Street. Its regular admission page lists $12 for adults, $10 for students and people 62 or older, and free entry for children five and under. It also lists free admission for up to four people per SNAP EBT card through Museums for All. Regular hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; free public parking is available north and west of the building. Check the museum’s calendar before traveling because exhibition and event schedules can change.