by Patricia Frischer
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| Lara Bullock, Ph.D introduces the exhibition to the docents of OMA |
San Diego Visual Arts
Network was set up to encourage artists to connect, create and
shine. The San
Diego Art Prize is an initiative that highlights the excellence
of visual artists in our region and elevates their work to a wider audience Over the years, the collection of San
Diego Art Prize recipients has been a continual source of inspiration as it
celebrates the artists shaping our future. Good art has the power to quiet
personal worries and shifts how we see the world. That transformative quality
is at the heart of everything we do.
The San Diego Art Prize is not
something artists “win.” It is a recognition received after a sustained career
in the arts, ideally when an artist is at the top of their game. Selectors
focus on work completed within the past three years, and our long-term
intention is to eventually recognize all deserving local artists. The San
Diego Art Prize turns local talent into lasting impact.
In the SD Art Prize 2026 SDVAN
Soft
Power: On Color, Time, and Resistance: Danielle Dean, Ingrid Hernández, Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio
curated by Lara Bullock, Ph.D continues to discover the artists
defining San Diego now. This year’s recipients bring a new dimension to the
Art Prize. For the first time, all three artists are women with young
children—an extraordinary reminder of the pressures artists balance while
producing exceptional work. Every artist is unique, and presenting them
together creates both an opportunity and a challenge that our curators have
meet with intelligence and care this and
every year. Exhibiting at the Oceanside Museum of art allowed us to
continually expand and diversify our audience. We are one creative community
with bold art and big ideas.
At the Oceanside Museum of Art, this year’s Art Prize
presentation will include a panel discussion, offering audiences direct insight
into the artists’ practices. We have also developed educational lesson plans
for distribution at the museum and online created by Brenda Andrews. The
catalog designed by Mark Murphy of Murphy Designs both hard copy with an
online version will link to a video. We
firmly believe that Art connects us and we are proud that SDVAN helps makes
that happen. That is our legacy.
Danielle A. Dean - clip from film WhiteDanielle A. Dean uses
resources like archives, videos, performances, community projects, sculptures,
and drawings to explore how ideas and images get repeated and recycled in ways
that help keep global capitalism going. She works with different types of media
and often involves other people in her projects to take a closer look at the
cracks and problems in this system that seems like it’s stuck in a loop. In
this video work she takes her inspiration from a British industry campaign that
features cows as one of economic drivers post WWII. In this work, an imaged
scene is drenched in white over a period of time. The white symbolic of not
only milk but the whiteness of the power in the world. Dean received an MFA from California Institute
of the Arts and is an alumna of the Whitney Independent Study Program. Danielle
Dean is currently an associate professor or art at UCSD.
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| Danielle A. Dean - clip from film White |
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| Danielle A. Dean - clip from film White |
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| Danielle A. Dean - clip from film White |
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| Actual vintage promotion card for British Industries |
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| Danielle A. Dean - clip from film White |
Ingrid Hernández, from
Tijuana, Mexico, explores how cities change by looking at how people relate to
their homes. With a background in both sociology and visual art, she focuses on
communities built by migrants, deportees, and people who’ve been displaced,
especially near the US-Mexico border. She often depicts discarded materials
from the U.S. and local Mexican maquiladoras in her work. Her projects usually
involve long-term collaborations, including interviews, photography, and
exploring shared memories. Ingrid Hernández is co-founder of Relaciones
Inesperadas, a teaching space for the development of contemporary artistic
practices and the fostering of critical dialogue in the arts established in
Tijuana.
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| Ingrid Hernández |
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| Ingrid Hernández |
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| Ingrid Hernández |
Ingrid Hernández
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| Ingrid Hernández |
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| Ingrid Hernández |
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| Ingrid Hernández |
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| Ingrid Hernández |
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| Ingrid Hernández |
Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio explores
the world on a most personal scale. She confronts how caregiving for loved ones
can displace time and reshape perception. The work is quiet, contemplative with
an understanding of cosmic astrophysics. She is creating architecture on an
atmospheric, emotional level with installations of drawing and painting that
gives us a glimpse of an always changing universe of challenges. She received
her MFA from the New York Academy of Art and BA in art history and visual arts
at the University of San Diego. Ortiz-Rubio currently teaches drawing and
painting at University of San Diego.
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| Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio |
Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio
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| Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio |
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| Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio |
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| Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio |
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| Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio |
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| Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio |
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| Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio |
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| Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio |
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| Lara Bullock, Ph.D with OMA docents |
San Diego Visual Arts Network presents SD Art Prize 2026
Soft
Power: On Color, Time, and Resistance: Danielle Dean, Ingrid Hernández, Tatiana Ortiz-Rubio.
Curated by Lara Bullock, Ph.D.
Opening reception :Sat. Sept 19 from 5 to 7 pm Buy tickets here.
Soft Power in
Practice: A Conversation with the 2026 San Diego Art Prize Recipients is on Sun
Sept 27th from 2 to 4 pm, Buy tickes here.Oceanside Museum of Art
On view until January 17, 2027
704 Pier View Way, Oceanside, CA 92054 (760) 435-3720
Hours: Wednesday to Sunday 11 to 5. Extended
Hours on First Fridays 11 to 8
OMA Museum is open FREE on First Fridays 5 - 8 and First
Sundays 11 - 5 of every month.
