Crossroads School, Sam Francis Gallery

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Crossroads School, Sam Francis Gallery Thematically based group exhibitions are often organized by independent curators and participating artists give public lectures and student workshops.

The Sam Francis Gallery, located in the Peter Boxenbaum Arts Education Centre, is dedicated to the display of student art and to presenting cutting edge exhibitions of work by locally and nationally prominent artists. Each spring a group of student curators works with the Gallery Director to organize an exhibition of works by local artists. Exhibitions, openings and gallery events are listed in the local newspapers and in Artscene.

The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents 2026-2027 VISUAL ARTS FACULTY EXHIBITIONExhibi...
10/01/2026

The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents 2026-2027 VISUAL ARTS FACULTY EXHIBITION

Exhibition: Sept. 9- Oct. 2, 2026

During regular gallery hours, we ask that you make a reservation in advance. Link in bio. Visitors must check in with security.

Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences is excited to announce the first exhibition of the 2026-27 school year showcasing the diverse and multifaceted work of members of the School’s K-12 Visual Arts Department. This exhibition offers an insightful glimpse into the creative processes and thematic explorations which define each artist’s practice. Additionally, these teaching artists bring their extensive knowledge, experience and passion for their practice into the classroom. This exhibition features artwork by the following Crossroads teaching artists:

Susan Arena, Melissa Bouwman, Janice Gomez, Molly Hansen , Anne Kessler, Akemi Maruki, Antonio Okun, Vincent Ramos, Jesse Robinson, Alystair Rogers, Carly Steward , David Stewart, Solomon Turner

The Sam Francis Gallery atCrossroads School for Arts & Sciences PresentsMiddle School and Upper School End-of-the-Year E...
05/11/2026

The Sam Francis Gallery at

Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents

Middle School and Upper School End-of-the-Year Exhibitions

Upper School:

Exhibition On View: May 7-14

Reception: Monday, May 11, 3:30-5 p.m.

Middle School:

Exhibition On View: May 21-June 1

Reception: Monday, June 1, 12:35-1:45 p.m.

Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences presents Middle and Upper School End-of-the-Year Exhibitions. The artwork spans mediums such as drawing, painting, photography, ceramics, graphic design, studio art, video production, robotics and art, film studies, digital art and animation. The exhibitions will be on view at the Sam Francis Gallery located in the Peter Boxenbaum Arts Education Centre on Crossroads’ 21st Street Campus.

The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents2026 CROSSROADS ADVANCED STUDIES (CAS) VISUAL A...
02/10/2026

The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents

2026 CROSSROADS ADVANCED STUDIES (CAS) VISUAL ARTS THESIS EXHIBITIONS

Exhibition One: Feb. 11-27, 2026//Opening Reception: Wednesday, Feb. 11 // 3:30-5:30 p.m.

Exhibition Two: March 9-20, 2026//Opening Reception: Wednesday, March 11 // 3:30-5:30 p.m.

The Crossroads School Visual Arts Department is proud to present the 2026 Crossroads Advanced Studies (CAS) Visual Arts Exhibition. Students in CAS Ceramics, Graphic Design, Photography and Studio Art each created an independent body of work. These exhibitions reflect each student’s unique vision and engagement in the process of being an artist. To visit the Sam Francis Gallery, please make an appointment—link in bio.

The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents“elevate Elevate ELEVATE!”A Middle School Winte...
01/15/2026

The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents

“elevate Elevate ELEVATE!”
A Middle School Winter Project

Exhibition Duration: Jan. 15-28, 2026 (reservation link in bio)

This Middle School art exhibition, “elevate Elevate ELEVATE!”, brings together student work from Ceramics, Photography and Studio Art classes around a shared theme that asks students to look upward, outward and inward. Introduced at the start of the school year and revisited again at the beginning of the new year, elevate Elevate ELEVATE! serves as both a creative prompt and a reminder to uplift one another, to amplify personal voices and to imagine ideas that move beyond limitations.

Across all three disciplines, students interpreted “elevate” through both metaphor and form. Ceramic artists created sculptural works that explore symbols of rising and growth, incorporating emblems such as wings, ladders and ascending structures. Photography students approached the theme through a more experimental lens, creating cyanotype works that feature suspended cast silhouettes printed onto fabric. By placing their own bodies into the work, students explored ideas of presence and elevation—both literal and emotional. Studio Art students translated “elevate” into kinetic and conceptual form by working directly on kites. These works extend beyond the wall, embodying the idea of elevation as something active and expansive. Whether imagined soaring in the sky or displayed in space, the kites symbolize students’ ideas taking flight—rising above, moving forward and reaching beyond.

Elevate is not only a theme, but a shared intention—one that encourages students to lift their voices, support one another and approach their creative practice with confidence and imagination.

12/08/2025

reception today (12/8/25) at 3:30pm at the sam francis gallery! we better see you there!

The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents “Intricate Beauty”Featuring Work by Crossroads...
12/08/2025

The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents “Intricate Beauty”

Featuring Work by Crossroads Level 3 Visual Arts Students

Exhibition Duration: Dec. 3-19 (make a reservation using the link in our bio)
Reception: Monday, Dec. 8 // 3:30-5 p.m. (Reservation not required)

Organized by art gallery curatorial project students

What makes something meaningful and what makes it magnetic? Intricate Beauty invites viewers to consider the parts of the world we often overlook: the minutiae, the quiet details, the subtle constructions that typically fall to the background. This exhibition encourages audiences to look beyond broad impressions and sweeping forms, and instead shift their attention toward the often unrecognized qualities that give an object, image or idea its depth.

Rather than seeking the largest or most obvious picture, Level 3 visual arts students focused their creative processes on the smallest elements—the overlooked, the fragile, the abandoned, the nearly invisible. In doing so, they uncovered new layers of meaning and dimension, revealing how intricacy can transform perception.

Across Photography, Ceramics, Studio Art and Graphic Design & Animation, students were challenged to choose an emotion, detail or fleeting moment and render it with as much physical and metaphorical dimension as possible. The result is a collection of work that asks viewers to reconsider scale, attention and the beauty embedded within the subtle.

Intricate Beauty is an invitation to pause, to look closer and to discover what reveals itself only when we allow ourselves to see.
(Image credit: Willa S., 11th grade, photography)

The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents:“A School of Fish” Artist Residency Project wi...
11/03/2025

The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents:

“A School of Fish”
Artist Residency Project with Dakota Noot

“A School of Fish” has been taking over the gallery these last few weeks! Visit the gallery Wednesday-Friday to see the culmination of work by Dakota Noot and participating visual arts classes.

Residency: Oct. 13-Nov. 7, 2025
Exhibition On View: Nov. 6-7 // 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Reservation link in bio

Reception: Wednesday, Nov. 5, 3:30-5 p.m. (Reservation not required)

For his residency, A School of Fish, Dakota Noot will reimagine sea “diaromas” and real marine life found off the coast of Santa Monica. Noot will create an installation of drawings and cardboard cutouts. Students from all division will be invited to participate in gallery workshops to contribute to significant parts of this installation. A gallery wall will become an “ocean” for cutout animals to “swim” and interact with. Noot will also open this installation to “wearable art” inspired by sea creatures and beach goers. Students and viewers are asked to reflect on their connection to the ocean and sea life.

Dakota Noot is a Los Angeles-based artist and acting director/curator at the Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion. He has exhibited in galleries and institutions including the Charlie James Gallery, Shoshana Wayne Gallery and the Torrance Art Museum. Noot’s cutout-drawing installations have been shown at LA Freewaves, Cerritos College Art Gallery and Otis College. Noot currently teaches at Oxnard College. His work has been featured in Hi-Fructose Magazine.

The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents THE 2025 CROSSROADS ADVANCED STUDIES (CAS) VIS...
03/11/2025

The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents THE 2025 CROSSROADS ADVANCED STUDIES (CAS) VISUAL ARTS THESIS EXHIBITIONS

Exhibition One: March 12-April 9
Opening Reception: Wed., March 12, 3:30-5:30 p.m.

Exhibition Two: April 16-30
Opening Reception: Wed., April 16, 3:30-5:30 p.m.

The Crossroads School Visual Arts Department is proud to present the 2025 CAS (Crossroads Advanced Studies) Visual Arts Exhibition. Students in CAS Ceramics, Graphic Design, Photography and Studio Art each created an independent body of work. These exhibitions reflect each student’s creativity, personal vision, and engagement in the process of being an artist.

To visit the Sam Francis Gallery, please make an appointment by using the link in our bio.

Fragmented Memories: Manifestations of an Obscured NostalgiaA Student-Organized Exhibition Exhibition Duration: Feb. 12-...
02/12/2025

Fragmented Memories: Manifestations of an Obscured Nostalgia

A Student-Organized Exhibition

Exhibition Duration: Feb. 12-28, 2025

Reception: Wednesday, Feb. 12 // 3:30-5:30 p.m.

Artists: Jeff Beall, Elizabeth Gorcey P’25, Joanne Hayakawa, JPW3, Richard C. Miller

Organized by Curatorial Art students: Ava Grossi, Avery Jones, Celeste Molina, Ruby Schur, Siân Smith

Fragmented Memories: Manifestations of an Obscured Nostalgia is intertwined throughout with the essence of nostalgia. To evoke the feeling of fragmented memory is to validate the inability to envision a memory as a whole. As time passes, memories become obscured—this is inevitable, yet our desire to preserve the past manifests itself as a voracious need for romanticized experiences that become altered through ever evolving perception. The reception does not require an RSVP. During normal gallery hours, please make a reservation in advance. Link in bio. Visitors must check in with security.

1. Imonie Stuno-Pervorse (11th grade) 2. Sophie Choi (11th grade)3. Sissi Rao (11th grade)The Sam Francis Gallery at Cr...
12/05/2024

1. Imonie Stuno-Pervorse (11th grade)
2. Sophie Choi (11th grade)
3. Sissi Rao (11th grade)

The Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences Presents

nar•ra•tive [ner-ə-tiv] noun: a spoken or written account of connected events; a story

An Upper School Winter Project featuring Level 3 Visual Arts Students

Exhibition Duration: December 4-20, 2024

Reception: Wednesday, Dec. 4, 3:30-5 p.m.

The reception does not require an RSVP. During regular gallery hours, please make a reservation in advance. Info in bio. Visitors must check in with security.

The Crossroads Upper School Visual Art Department is excited to present the student-themed exhibition nar•ra•tive [ner-ə-tiv]. In this exhibition, Upper School Level 3 students in ceramics, graphic design & animation, studio art, and photography create artworks that explore the ways in which art intersects with various forms of storytelling. In the spirit of adaptation, Graphic Design and Animation students have used written content as inspiration to create a digital illustration series, design-based series (posters, cover design, etc), or animated pieces (either character based or motion graphics). In Studio Art 3 students created drawings inspired by both comic books and fine artists such as Amy Sillman and Ida Applebrog. Reflecting on how storytelling has affected their lives both historically and culturally Ceramics students worked collaboratively to tell a story exploring how experiences can be unique and universal. Photography students explored crafting a visual story through vignettes using personal history, fictional characterization, or documenting surrounding spaces and activities around them.

Address

1714 21st Street
Santa Monica, CA
90404

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 4pm
Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

(310) 829-7391

Website

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