Women Around Town, March 2026 by Karen Schifman
IN THE GALLERIES
Anat Egbi Gallery often has compelling exhibitions of art by female artists. Currently,Veronica Fernandez: Prey is a selection of new paintings and sculpture by the local artist. “Fernandez’s figurative paintings invest narrative with her own life experiences. Storytelling gives way to mood, duration, and the residue of memory, resulting in vivid characters and dramatic environments that feel alive. While they have elements of autobiography, Fernandez resists overly specific Realism, opting for a dreamlike and at times fantastical backdrop. The exhibition title, Prey, alludes to the state of defenselessness through which children move in the world, exposed to situations, circumstances, and inherited roles that act upon them. It also invokes its homophone Pray, the personal act of communication with the divine. In Fernandez’s paintings, emotional life is shaped by the quiet systems we grow up inside, narrated by our private thoughts and supplications. To be human is to be open, impressionable, and affected: to move through our environments as they leave their marks long before we can name them.” Thru April 4, 2026.
The Armory Center for the Arts presents Material Prophecies: Craft as Divination. Through fiber, wood, bronze, cyanotype, terracotta, film, installation, and earth, they reveal how materials can act as portals between memory, between the known and the emergent. This exhibition examines the analysis of myths, symbols, and language, suggesting an intertwined connection between the divine, in which prophecy itself can offer insights into the cosmos. Here, eight artists of distinct practices expand on the ideas of craft itself as a “prophetic practice.” These artists are April Bey, Emmanuel Louisnord Desir, Calethia DeConto, Joel Gaitan, Sky Hopinka, Lani Trock, and Jackie Amézquita. Image below by April Bey.
SPARC (Social and Public Art Resource Center) will return to Jeffrey Deitch to exhibit the latest complete segment in the expansion of Judy Baca’s The Great Wall of Los Angeles mural fifty years after its initial production. Judith F. Baca: Great Wall of Los Angeles: The 1970s- A Decade of Defiance and Dreams is the title of this exhibit. “This segment of The Great Wall of Los Angeles captures the heartbeat of its most consequential movements. Beginning with the Native American occupation of Alcatraz in 1969, a reclamation of land and identity that reignited Indigenous activism, the latest complete section of the mural next unfolds in moments that echo across the prisons of America, where political prisoners like George Jackson and Angela Davis embody the era’s radical resistance to state violence.” Thru April 4, 2026.
L.A. Louver Gallery presents Alison Saar: Meet Me at the Crossroads Ruby’s Soul Service Station. this is an immersive sculptural installation that invites you into a space of rest and renewal under the thoughtful gaze of soul service attendant Ruby. Listen to a poem by Harryette Mullen or settle in for a game of dominoes with friends, refilling and replenishing your soul with the powerful energy of Saar’s installation. Thru March 6, 2026.
A Stitch & Glitch in Time continues at The CSUN Art Gallery. The exhibit brings together thirteen Los Angeles–based artists whose textile practices explore the intersections of technology, fashion, and collective histories. Exhibition Artists: Fafnir Adamites, Ekta Aggarwal, Diane Briones Williams, Lavialle Campbell, Mimi Haddon, Lorenzo Hurtado Segovia, Ahree Lee, Aubrey Longley-Cook, Kayla Mattes, Minga Opazo, Aneesa Shami Zizzo, Irene Georgia Tsatsos, and Jenny Yurshansky. This exhibition was curated by Holly Jerger, CSUN Art Galleries Director. This exhibition is also part of Handwork 2026, Craft in America’s nationwide semiquincentennial collaboration showcasing the importance of the handmade and celebrating the diversity of craft that defines America. (CSUN) Thru March 12, 2026.
Walter Maciel gallery is currently exhibiting work by Lezley Saar, Color Me Baddd and Sóla Saar, 92 Tarot Collages and a Dollhouse. Thru March 26, 2026.
A wonderful example of a significant female collector’s contribution to the art world continues at Hauser & Wirth’s downtown location. Destiny is a Rose: The Eileen Harris Norton Collection. Renowned for her generosity to artists and institutions, Norton has built a collection and philanthropy actively focused upon the work of women, artists of color and her native California. The exhibit includes works by noted artists such as Kerry James Marshall, Mark Bradford, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, David Hammons, Glenn Ligon, Lorraine O’Grady, Adrian Piper, Betye Saar, Lorna Simpson, Kara Walker, Carrie Mae Weems and many others. Thru August 16, 2026.
Additionally, the gallery will be exhibiting Christina Quarles: The Ground Grows Black. “Created in the wake of the wildfires in Altadena, the artist’s latest body of work reflects an acute sense of displacement—geographical, emotional and corporeal.” Thru May 3, 2026.
IN THE MUSEUMS
Of special note this month is a powerful photography exhibit at the Getty Center, Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985. “Amid the turbulent decades of the mid-20th century, African American and Afro-Atlantic diaspora artists sought to celebrate Black culture and advance the struggle for civil rights. Photographic images contributed in myriad ways to the lively exchange of pan-African ideas that propelled the Black Arts Movement. See how an incredible range of artists and activists—from studio and street photographers to graphic designers and community organizers—used photography as a tool for social change.” (Getty Center) Among the many photographers whose work is on view are Carrie Mae Weems, Ming Smith, and some notable gentlemen as well such Gordon Parks and Ray Francis. Thru June 14, 2026. (The image below is an example of work by Weems).
How to be a Guerrilla Girl continues at the Getty Museum. Coinciding with the Guerrilla Girls’ 40th anniversary, the exhibition tells the story of their collaborative process and longstanding commitment to call for equity for women and artists of color in the art world. Thru April 12. 2026.
Dear Little Friend: Impressions of Galka Scheyer continues at Norton Simon Museum, Scheyer, a German-born art dealer played a significant role in bringing European modernism to the United States. The exhibition will focus on her legacy through the personal relationships she forged with both artists and supporters. The exhibit features portraits and ephemera, and on her mission to promote the Blue Four: Alexei Jawlensky, Lyonel Feininger, Paul Klee and Vassily Kandinsky. Thru July 20, 2026.
LACMA has a few interesting exhibits right now. Of special note is Deep Cuts: Block Printing Across Cultures. More than 150 works from Asia, Europe, and the Americas present the medium as both a means of creative expression and a vehicle for mass production that enabled images and ideas to circulate widely. Textiles, prints, and books offer intricate patterns and striking imagery that reveal block printing’s global history. The exhibition also includes a section developed with Los Angeles–based Block Shop, highlighting how contemporary makers continue to reinterpret this enduring art form. Continues thru September 13, 2026. (image below by Alison Saar)
A unique collaboration between MOCA and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, this presentation brings together the work of internationally acclaimed visual artist Haegue Yang (b. 1971, Seoul) and her interest in and engagement with the late composer Isang Yun (1917-1995). The institutional collaboration unfolds over two distinct presentations: an exhibition featuring a sprawling installation Star-Crossed Rendezvous after Yun. (MOCA) Thru August 2, 2026.
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