Wellbeing of the Future is an interactive art installation showcasing the top thematic visions of San Mateo County 50 years from now — co-created by youth throughout the City through the Futures Commission's intergenerational design challenge series.

This installation imagines conversations overheard in the mess hall of the USS Enterprise, using science fiction as a lens through which to examine our own world. The dialogue invites viewers to consider how we might build a more equitable, compassionate, and functional society—one where disagreement can coexist with empathy, and where community can be found across differences.

Barbara Kibbe begins every day by drawing a breath and trying to envision what is possible without ignoring the current reality. This practice has led her to create a new body of work, Drawing Breath: Safe Keeping, a collection of art books and containers fashioned from Kibbe’s inventory of 50+ years of printmaking. The books and containers hold aspirations, affirmations, and predictions to help us envision the future we want for ourselves, our families, our communities, and our country.

Artists have always been at the center of the nation’s soul. The artists of O Say Can You See … the Soul of Our Nation create images and perspectives that transcend politics, encourage hope, and advance the vision of a just society where all can experience opportunity, and enjoy liberty and happiness. Juried by Jeff Raz, curated by Barbara Kibbe & Nanette Wylde.

Objects of Belonging invites visitors to discover the art, stories, and meaning hidden within everyday objects. Presented by SMC Youth Arts Fellow Taryn Hwang with the support of the SMC Office of Arts & Culture and the CfC.

An exhibition of original poems and collage artwork by San Mateo County youth

The Barrows serve to examine what collects and to illuminate the mental and emotional weights that accumulate. In many ways taking what is private in detail but collective in nature and presenting that in a shared manner encouraging a greater conversation.

Through the Tangles, by artist Robin Mullery, is an interactive installation of wire, words, and space embodying the way we are bound, held, entangled, connected, and released in relationships with others and ourselves. Viewers can participate by submitting words from the exhibit to a website, which will generate a new poem.

Soft Punk by artist Michelle Anna Boire, is a mixed media show exploring trauma and grief in the Phone Booth Gallery.

This exhibition by members of the Bay Area Photographers Collective explores life amid “A Measure of Uncertainty.” The fine art photography exhibition, featuring the original work of 13 BAPC artists, is curated by Heather Snider.

To mark the one-year anniversary of our opening at the historic Sequoia Hotel, the Center for Creativity proudly presents Transformations—an exhibition featuring ten San Mateo artists who celebrate the spirit of our dedicated volunteers, curated by Alyssa Levitan.

“Rebirth in Color” celebrates creative freedom, inviting young artists to explore the spirit of spring through painting without constraints. In this first off-campus exhibition from Design Tech High School, students were given a simple yet expansive prompt: "Create what you feel called to create."

Dial-a-Poet invites visitors to pick up a vintage push-button phone and dial to hear environmental poems. Visitors can contribute their own voices by writing poems on ribbons that become part of this evolving installation, transforming a communication relic into a portal for ecological reflection.

Invoking ocean goddesses, artist Christina Conklin crafts algae vessels, wombs and wings in an act of reclaiming sacred feminine power in this time of turmoil.

Vintage suitcases become intimate portals in this multi-artist installation, each vessel transformed into a personal landscape exploring ecology, displacement, and the stories we carry — a meditation on what we choose to hold, what we leave behind, and our place in a changing world.

By keeping precious things in safes, we disengage from them. The Wildsafe invites viewers to look inside at clay figures that unite the natural and human world—passing knowledge across generations, building cross-species relationships, persisting through change—revealing the imaginary line we draw between our worlds.

Making Waves: Currents of Change, curated by Belinda Chlouber, celebrates women artists and environmental consciousness during Women's History Month and Earth Day. The exhibition brings together a group of women with diverse artistic perspectives that examine the climate crisis, ecological relationships, and humanity's impact on our planet.

The Center for Creativity invites the public to participate in Free Art, a community-driven exhibition where visitors are welcome to take art, donate art, or simply enjoy the exhibition.

Through intuitive doodling, Lynn Singer Asher captures moments of presence, joy, and resilience - revealing how simple marks can become powerful expressions of connection, memory, and everyday wonder.

Mural Madness features painted panels created during a live mural competition held during San Mateo’s annual September Arts & Culture Fest.

We have just one planet, yet it is faced with many perils of human activity -- industrial and home waste, discarded electronics, packaging, plastics, destruction from war, and the consequences of our disposable culture. These perils, embodied in the globes in this installation, drive artist Shirley Abraham toward activism and a passion for environmental stewardship.

A curated exhibit of 12 artists reflecting on the theme of perseverance, resilience and hope.

Refuge, guest curated by Na Omi J. Shintani in the Sequoia Gallery featuring artists of Asian heritage

Elements of Modern Quilting, featuring work from the Silicon Valley Modern Quilt Guild featured in the Eureka Studio Gallery

Extraction: On the Margins, a portfolio of hand-pulled prints from the California Society of Printmakers featured on the Sequoia Gallery Staircase

Corinne’s Shoezeum, an installation by Corinne Friedman featured in the Phone Booth Gallery

Block Party, an interactive installation by Pat Mayer featured in the Safe Box Gallery

Children’s books and original art by artist/illustrators Elizabeth Gomez and Pettina Velez featured on the Community Wall

Disabilities Arts Showcase on the Community Wall in partnership with the County of San Mateo Commission on Disabilities

Installation by Cindy Stokes at the Art Window, our new gallery at 2009–2011 Broadway, just two doors from the Center for Creativity.