Live Model Drawing

Tuesdays, July 15, August 19, September 1610:00 a.m.–noonMuseum Art Studio   Join us for a live model drawing session.Come engage in figure drawing in the SDMA Museum Art Studio! Exercise and develop your drawing skills through observation of a live, clothed model while......More

Tuesdays, July 15, August 19, September 1610:00 a.m.–noonMuseum Art Studio   Join us for a live model drawing session.Come engage in figure drawing in the SDMA Museum Art Studio! Exercise and develop your drawing skills through observation of a live, clothed model while exploring your creativity. Drawing materials will be provided or you can bring your own. No oil paints or solvents please!     This is a pay-what-you-wish event. Please RSVP here to save your spot. Registration is limited to 20 people per session. Registration is limited to 20 people per session. Meet at the House of Hospitality, near the Prado restaurant entrance at 9:50 a.m. and look for the OPEN STUDIO sign.        Artists under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult for the duration of the Live Model Drawing Session. 

Resident Free Tuesday

Tuesday10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.   The San Diego Museum of Art offers free admission to San Diego County residents (with ID) on the third Tuesday of every month. A valid ID is required for admission and certain restrictions apply as Resident Free Tuesdays tend to be busy. We......More

Tuesday10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.   The San Diego Museum of Art offers free admission to San Diego County residents (with ID) on the third Tuesday of every month. A valid ID is required for admission and certain restrictions apply as Resident Free Tuesdays tend to be busy. We ask that you not bring food, beverages, backpacks, or other oversized items.   Plan for your visit and see our top tips for visiting the Museum.

The San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado, San Diego, CA, 92102, United States

Books & Art: Creative Journaling Workshop

Tuesdays, June 17, July 15, August 1910:30–11:45 a.m.The San Diego Museum of Art Library   Join us for a thoughtful morning of journaling, sketching, and creative reflection.Begin with an educator-led exploration of the Museum’s galleries, where you’ll engage in guided ......More

Tuesdays, June 17, July 15, August 1910:30–11:45 a.m.The San Diego Museum of Art Library   Join us for a thoughtful morning of journaling, sketching, and creative reflection.Begin with an educator-led exploration of the Museum’s galleries, where you’ll engage in guided writing and drawing activities inspired by the art around you. Using prompts rooted in themes from current exhibitions, you’ll have space to pause, observe, and express your thoughts through words or sketches in your own journal. Afterward, head to the Museum Library to personalize your journal cover with decorative elements or create a journal spread. Whether you’re starting fresh or returning to continue your journal practice, this is a chance to deepen your connection to art, and to your own creativity.   Please RSVP here to save your spot. Registration is limited to 15 people.   Registration is limited to 15 people. Workshop held during Resident Free Tuesday, which grants free admission to San Diego County Residents (with ID) on the third Tuesday of every month. Museum admission for nonresidents not included. Artists under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult for the duration of the workshop.

Community Open Studio

Tuesdays, July 15, August 19, September 161:00–3:00 p.m.Museum Art Studio   Join us for an in-studio art making experience.Come explore art making in the SDMA Museum Art Studio! Join us and create work using mediums such as drawing, painting, and mixed media and explore......More

Tuesdays, July 15, August 19, September 161:00–3:00 p.m.Museum Art Studio   Join us for an in-studio art making experience.Come explore art making in the SDMA Museum Art Studio! Join us and create work using mediums such as drawing, painting, and mixed media and explore your creativity. Materials will be provided, or you can bring your own. No oil paints or solvents please! This is a pay-what-you-wish event. Please RSVP here to save your spot. Registration is limited to 20 people per session. Meet at the House of Hospitality, near the Prado restaurant entrance at 12:50 p.m. and look for the OPEN STUDIO sign. Artists under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult for the duration of the Community Open Studio.

Envisioning the Empress: Images of Japanese Imperial Women

Thursday, August 281:00–3:00 p.m. PTSpeaker: Alison Miller, PhD, Associate Professor of Art History and Director of Asian Studies at the University of the South (Sewanee)Virtual Event   Join the Asian Arts Council on an exploration of the public images of Japanese empre......More

Thursday, August 281:00–3:00 p.m. PTSpeaker: Alison Miller, PhD, Associate Professor of Art History and Director of Asian Studies at the University of the South (Sewanee)Virtual Event   Join the Asian Arts Council on an exploration of the public images of Japanese empresses during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Based on research completed for her book, Envisioning the Empress: The Lives and Images of Japanese Imperial Women, 1868-1952, Alison Miller, PhD, Associate Professor of Art History and Director of Asian Studies at the University of the South (Sewanee), will introduce and analyze the public images of the modern Japanese empresses, discussing how visual culture elevated the women as celebrity role models. As imperial images were a completely new invention in the second half of the 19th century, this talk will discuss the varied influences on the woodblock prints, lithographs, and photographs of the empresses, and how they worked to establish the women as individuals, but also timeless in the public eye. Speaker Bio: Alison J. Miller, Associate Professor of Art History and Director of Asian Studies at the University of the South (Sewanee), is a specialist in modern and contemporary Japanese art history, focusing on two-dimensional media, gender, and the imperial family. She has published in the Journal of Japanese Studies, TransAsia Photography Review, Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas (ADVA), and various public humanities projects and museum catalogues. She is co-editor and contributing author for The Visual Culture of Meiji Japan: Negotiating the Transition to Modernity (Routledge, 2021) and Transposed Memory: Visual Sites of National Recollection in 20th and 21st Century East Asia (Brill, 2024). Her book, Envisioning the Empress: The Lives and Images of Japanese Imperial Women, 1868-1952 (Routledge, 2025) analyzes the social impact of the images of the modern Japanese empresses. Miller received her PhD from the University of Kansas and has taught at Bowdoin College and the Kansas City Art Institute. Her work has been funded by a Fulbright Fellowship, Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship, Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellowship, Appalachian College Association Faculty Fellowship, and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship, among others.   Please note, this session will be conducted virtually via Zoom. Save your spot by clicking on this link. All participants will be sent the Zoom link via confirmation email with instructions once you secure your place. Save my spot!  Sponsored by the Asian Arts Council.   Featured at top right: Utagawa Kunitoshi, Illustration of the imperial carriage, (Gohōren no zu) (detail), 1889. One sheet of a triptych of woodblock prints ink and color on paper. Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1959, Metropolitan Museum of Art, JP3230.