Oceanside Museum of Art and The California Surf Museum Announce First Collaborative Exhibition ‘Surf Art: Exploring California’s Coastal Culture’

Oceanside’s top cultural destinations unite to celebrate Southern California’s surf-inspired art in a landmark two-part exhibition opening in late summer 2025

Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA) and The California Surf Museum (CSM) are proud to announce their first-ever collaborative exhibition, Surf Art: Exploring California’s Coastal Culture. This inaugural partnership brings together two Oceanside institutions with complementary missions — OMA’s dedication to showcasing contemporary art by Southern California artists and CSM’s global perspective on surf culture — in a unified celebration of surf-inspired art rooted in Oceanside’s coastal lifestyle. The exhibition will be presented in two parts: opening at OMA on August 23, 2025, and at CSM on September 13, 2025, with both exhibitions on display through February 1, 2026.

Surf Art will explore the creative expressions that have emerged from the surf lifestyle, focusing on the unique lens of artists who live and work in Southern California, the birthplace of modern surf culture. “Surfing is part of a defining identity of California’s image. It’s had an indelible effect on global society,” says Jim Kempton, Executive Director of CSM and co-curator of the exhibition. “Everyone who has experienced the feeling of riding a wave understands just how hard it is to describe that incredible sensation, referred to as ‘stoke.’”

While CSM brings a broad international context to the cultural impact of surfing, OMA’s focus on regional artists ensures a spotlight on the voices and visions of Southern California creators. Together, the exhibition offers a compelling and cohesive view of surf art as both a personal expression and a cultural phenomenon. “This is a collaboration between two museums that both have the goal of offering an understanding of California’s rich heritage of contemporary art,” says Katie Dolgov, OMA’s Director of Exhibitions and Collections. “Surf art is part of that mosaic.”

Through painting, sculpture, resin works, surfboards, murals, graphic design, textiles, and more, from over 30 regional artists, the exhibition captures how artists interpret the essence of “stoke” and the inspiration drawn from life between the waves.

“The Surf Art: Exploring California’s Coastal Culture exhibition illuminates a vibrant sector of Southern California culture and has appeal to a wide range of audiences,” says OMA’s Executive Director and co-curator Maria Mingalone. “We are excited to be partnering with the California Surf Museum to produce this large-scale exhibition that spans both venues.”

Surf Art is curated by OMA’s Director of Exhibitions and Collections, Katie Dolgov, CSM’s Executive Director, Jim Kempton, OMA’s Executive Director, Maria Mingalone, and local artists Wade Koniakowsky and Phil Roberts.

COMMUNITY EVENTS:

August 23, 2025, 5:00 – 7:00 pm – Exhibition Celebration at Oceanside Museum of Art

October 3, 2025. 5:00 – 8:00 pm – Exhibition Celebration at California Surf Museum & Oceanside Museum of Art First Free Friday

For more information about Oceanside Museum of Art, please visit www.oma-online.org

For more information about the California Surf Museum, please visit www.surfmuseum.org

About Oceanside Museum of Art

Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA) is a non-profit organization that began providing exhibitions and public programs in 1995 as part of their mission to bring people together to explore the art and stories of Southern California artists. OMA’s exhibition program is dynamic and robust, surprising visitors with a fresh and exciting visual experience nearly every visit. In addition to these boundary-pushing contemporary art exhibitions, OMA’s programming includes youth education programs, adult art classes, concerts, films, and creative community parties and events that appeal to locals and tourists alike. The OMA experience stimulates imagination, presents new ideas, and challenges the familiar in a welcoming environment for those new to art, longtime museum-goers, artists, art students, or simply the curious. For more information on Oceanside Museum of Art, visit https://oma-online.org/.

About The California Surf Museum

The California Surf Museum was founded in 1986 and has been in operation for over three decades, serving tens of thousands of annual visitors from over 40 nations every year. With a permanent collection that chronicles the history of surfboards and wave-riding, the museum also offers many revolving exhibits each year. In its current facility, it houses a rare set of archives and collections gathered over more than 30 years, comprising one of the world’s richest troves of surfing history. For more information, visit www.surfmuseum.org.