In March of 2025, the San José Museum of Art (SJMA) opened Tending and Dreaming: Stories from the Collection, the Museum’s first galleries dedicated to displaying works from its collection. In February 2026 the inaugural installation will rotate for the first time, putting collection works by Sadie Barnette, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Jim Campbell, and Alan Rath on long-term view alongside veteran collection works by Jay DeFeo, Louise Nevelson, Hung Liu, and Ruth Asawa among others. The galleries will also include Nam June Paik’s Internet Dweller (1994) on loan from Art Bridges through August 2026. The anthropomorphic sculpture by the video art pioneer will serve as a launching point for collection works that explore human relationships with and through technology, a priority focus area for the Museum.   

“SJMA was founded by artists and volunteers committed to creating community through art.” said Jeremiah Matthew Davis, Oshman Director and Chief Executive Officer.  “Since it opened last March, Tending and Dreaming has been designed to continue that commitment. This new collection rotation refreshes the presentation’s emphasis on storytelling, offering new entry points that engage with critical issues of our time – from what it means to belong to and connect with place and time to how technology influences our daily lives.”   

Since it was initiated in 1973 under the guidance of San José artists, SJMA’s collection (now 2700+ works) has grown beyond its regional focus into a collection that is both grounded in local histories and communities and unbounded by geography. Tending and Dreaming foregrounds the Museum’s commitment to presenting socially relevant work that visitors can connect to personally and spans all of the Museum’s downstairs galleries. It is organized into six thematic groupings that showcase key themes that run through the Museum’s collection. Local Resonances highlights artists with local connections and material-based engagements with place (rafa esparza, Christine Howard Sandoval, Elias Sime); Self-Making deals with questions of identity and belonging (Hung Liu, Sadie Barnette); Reclaiming History expands traditional cultural histories and includes works by Judy Baca, Raymond Saunders, and Tuan Andrew Nguyen; Connectivity explores the connectivity facilitated by technology as in Christine Sun Kim’s sound sculpture with recorded lullabies composed in collaboration with an extended network of parent friends, and Martha Atienza’s poetic address of globally rising sea levels. More-than-human foregrounds the continuities between humans and other forms and forces shaping our ecosystems. On loan from Art Bridges, Nam June Paik’s Internet Dweller will augment this section, providing new context for works by Jim Campbell, Sarah Sze, and Gail Wight. The final section, Transcendence, explores how artists evoke or give form to what is otherwise imperceptible and features artworks by Helen Frankenthaler, Lee Mullican, and Harry Powers, among others. 

On view as San José prepares to host a number of major sporting events in 2026, from Superbowl LX at nearby Levi’s stadium and March Madness to FIFA World Cup in June, the presentation will offer visitors a unique opportunity to relate to San José and the issues that engage its community through the eyes of artists in the City’s only publicly held museum-based art collection.  

SUPPORT 

Tending and Dreaming: Stories from the Collection is made possible by the SJMA Exhibitions Fund, with lead support from Toby and Barry Fernald; major support from Doris and Alan Burgess, the Lipman Family Foundation, and Evelyn and Rick Neely; generous support from the Farrington Historical Foundation, Geraldine and Marco Magarelli, Suzette Mahr, McManis Faulkner, Ann Marie Mix, Yvonne and Mike Nevens, C. Christine Nichols, Marge and Ken Nissly, Rita and Kent Norton, Dennis Rohan, and Elizabeth and Byron Ryono; additional support from Daniela Barone and Matt Reiferson, Elaine Cardinale, Glenda and Gary Dorchak, Diane Jonte-Pace, Cheryl and Bruce Kiddoo, and Marsha and Jon Witkin; and other support from donors to the Campaign for Collection.  

Operations and programs at the San José Museum of Art are made possible by principal support from SJMA’s Board of Trustees, and a Cultural Affairs Grant from the City of San José and the Skyline Foundation; by lead support from the Lipman Family Foundation, the Adobe Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Toby and Barry Fernald, Tad Freese and Brook Hartzell, the Richard A. Karp Charitable Foundation, Tammy and Tom Kiely, Yvonne and Mike Nevens, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Teiger Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the SJMA Director's Council and Council of 100; and with significant endowment support from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and the San José Museum of Art Endowment Fund established by the Knight Foundation at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. 

SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART  

The San José Museum of Art (SJMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum dedicated to inclusivity, new thinking, and visionary ideas. Founded in 1969 by artists and community leaders, its dynamic exhibitions, collection, and programs resonate with defining characteristics of San José and the Silicon Valley—from its rich diversity to its hallmark innovative ethos. The Museum offers lifelong learning for school children and their educators, multigenerational families, creative adults, university students and faculty, and community groups. SJMA is committed to being a museum without borders, essential to creative life throughout the diverse communities of San José and beyond. 

SJMA is located at 110 South Market Street in downtown San José, California. The Museum is open Thursday 4–9pm; Friday 11am–9pm; Saturday–Sunday 11am–6pm. Admission is $20 for adults, $15 for seniors, and free to members, college students, youth and children ages 17 and under, and school teachers (with valid ID). Admission is free from 6–9pm on the first Friday of every month. For up-to-date information, call 408.271.6840 or visit SanJoseMuseumofArt.org.