Exhibits

Kennedy Library supports alternative approaches to scholarship with a commitment to amplify underrepresented topics and voices. We do this by shaping, sharing, and fueling stories with collaborators in art, exhibits, and digital publishing. We do this on the lands of yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini, the Northern Chumash tribe, upon which we are grateful guests.

Impact: visual communication of information, an exhibit that focused on the diversity of visual communication created by students, faculty, and staff across the university.  Photo: Jett Witlin/Kennedy Library

Exhibit

Community member Lily Aradanas and Dr. Grace Yeh pose with Objects of Affection, a traveling exhibit.

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Nisei Diploma Project: Stories from California Polytechnic State University

There are many ways to get involved with Kennedy Library. Be sure to check out our past exhibits below which feature faculty, students, and special guests.

University Art Collection: Management of and facilitating access to the University Art Collection is part of the portfolio of the Robert E. Kennedy Library resources. Creative Works provides educational access to the collection, coordinates art acquisition proposals, and oversees storage and preservation of the collections to ensure that the program remains in compliance with policy and meets the purpose and needs of the University. The program also provides experiential learning opportunities with the university art collection (including an internship program, access to the collection through an online catalog, and course integration). ​

Digital Publishing Program: Aims to enhance access to Cal Poly scholarship through a digitally immersive, interactive system that focuses on collaboration, accessible approaches, and recognition of individuals’ places within structural systems.  This structural solution brings inclusive practices, equity, and justice to the forefront of scholarly publishing at Cal Poly centering historically underrepresented identities, perspectives and creativity.

Borrow an exhibit: Kennedy Library’s traveling exhibits have been developed to help share the unique cultural images and resources found in the library’s collections with broader communities. Traveling exhibits are available on topics that include regional history of San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly history, architecture and the built environment, and multicultural communities in California and the Central Coast.

Returning after the renovation!

Faculty Exhibit Program and Community Galleries: Collaborative faculty-driven exhibits; and adaptable gallery spaces for students and faculty to showcase their scholarly and creative work in a variety of ways. The program includes a publishing component through the production of visually rich digital exhibit catalogs. These spaces offer the campus community self-curated public venues to share projects and artwork in a relatively informal setting. 

See policies related to these spaces or propose an exhibit using our form.

Explore Past Exhibits

2012-2013


Links to the Land: Ranching the Central Coast

Through oral histories and an array of historic records and photographs, this exhibit brought to life the culture of ranching and farming in San Luis Obispo County and features the modern day impact of our local farmers’ markets.


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View Digital Exhibit

2011-2012


Assembly Required

Assembly Required highlights the craftsmanship and innovation of Cal Poly student furniture artists. The winners from the 2011 Vellum/College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED) Furniture Competition and Exhibition are a central feature of the exhibit.


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2010-2011


Look the Other Way

A photography exhibit using student-engineered images, sounds and textual documents which draw from University Archives materials.


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2009-2010


The Migrant Project

A bilingual traveling exhibition to promote diversity awareness and education. An in-depth photojournalistic portrait and recently published book detailing the lives and struggles of today’s California migrant farm workers, which numbers more than one million.


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View Digital Exhibit