Students, Faculty, & Alumni
Welcome
The Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery serves as a laboratory and a space to showcase the creativity and scholarship of UCSC students, faculty and alumni. The Sesnon Gallery deepens university students’ engagement with the arts through a variety of programs and professional opportunities. UCSC Faculty is invited to reserve a tour for their students to the Sesnon Gallery, and present their research through exhibitions and programs such as the Sesnon Salons. We invite Alumni to share their accomplishments through exhibitions and to inspire our students through workshops, conversations, and programs.
At the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery students have an opportunity to explore professional development and career pathway opportunities: beyond just telling students about careers in the arts, the Sesnon provides places for students to learn the essential skills required and actually practice them. We are dedicated to helping students envision their careers as they participate in multiple opportunities at the Sesnon Gallery.
At the Sesnon they can not only learn how to install an exhibition, engage visitors, or write an artist’s statement, but they will also learn how to navigate their industry: how to apply for a public art project, meet and talk to gallery owners and city commissioners, practice a presentation to a collector. Graduates will be equipped to thrive in today’s – and tomorrow’s – complex interconnected art world.
Work at the Sesnon Gallery as a Gallery Attendant
Students play an integral role in the daily operations of our professional gallery. Get hands-on educational experience, teaching skills such as art handling, exhibition installation, and working with a museum collections digital database. Paid Gallery Attendant positions are posted on Handshake.
Get a paid Curatorial Internship at the Sesnon Gallery
Get hands-on educational experience by working with Sesnon staff on collection management and curatorial projects such as doing research for future exhibitions, writing copy for exhibition materials, or helping to install exhibitions.
- CUIP Chancellor’s Undergraduate Internship Program Internship
- HAVC History of Art and Visual Culture Clare Wedding Enrichment Internship
Some internships are Department sponsored. Not sure if you qualify? Talk to your Undergraduate Department adviser!
Curate an exhibition at the Sesnon Underground Gallery
The Sesnon Underground is an experimental educational space where UCSC students are given the opportunity to exhibit their own bodies of work. Students are entrusted with the responsibility of curating, installing and marketing their own exhibitions with the assistance and facilitation of the Sesnon Gallery. The Sesnon Underground welcomes students of all disciplines to engage in the experience of the space. Send us an exhibition proposal with your ideas. If you don’t have any experience with exhibitions, let us know and we will help you with that. Questions? Email us: sesnon@ucsc.edu
Resources for Students
Upcoming Exhibitions
1/8-2/8/2025
Ukupupuka: An Exploration in Transcendence
Ukupupuka translated from Bemba (the most spoken language in Zambia) to English, means flight. Aaron Samuel Mulenga’s practice involves excavating the historic narratives of marginalized African individuals who contributed to significant moments of history like the First World War but were neglected from the grand narrative of history. By suturing together, the past with the contemporary moment Mulenga acknowledges life’s cyclical nature which sees the past, present and the future as flowing into one another.
2/19-3/15/25
Cruz Zamarrón
Sesnon Gallery & Museo Eduardo Carrillo present the collected works of Chicano artist and UCSC alumni Cruz Ortiz Zamarrón. Through the artist’s unique style, this collection of paintings and drawings captures the cultural and historical imagery of the West Coast Chicano experience in the 70s through the 90s.
Opening February 2026
The One With The Manes
The One with the Manes is a multimedia exhibition by Yasmine Benabdallah exploring a shared history between Morocco, Brazil, and Portugal through video installations, photographs, and watercolors.
Connect with the Sesnon!
The Sesnon Gallery is committed to uplifting UCSC’s faculty research and artistic production.
Tours
Connect your class to the Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery exhibitions by requesting a self-guided/guided tour. To discuss the content of your tour, email sesnon@ucsc.edu .
Classes from all disciplines at UC Santa Cruz and other colleges are welcome for self-guided or staff-led tours.
Exhibitions
We encourage faculty to contact the Gallery if they have an idea or suggestion for an exhibition that they would like to curate or to collaborate on. Please email sesnon@ucsc.edu.
Sesnon Collection Access
The Charles Griffin Farr Collection consists of over 500 drawings and oil paintings and functions both as an exhibiting collection as well as a teaching collection training students skills such as museum registration and art handling. Charles Griffin Farr was born in 1908 in Birmingham, Alabama. He studied in New York City and at the Academie Americaine in Paris, France. Upon his death in 1997, Mr. Farr willed his life’s work to UC Santa Cruz for public view and appreciation by future generations. Mr. Farr gifted many paintings and drawings to the University Collection, some of which are currently on display at University Center, representing the full spectrum of his artistic career.
The Sesnon also has a small number of artworks from various artists, including former professors and alumni.
Stay Connected with the Sesnon
The Sesnon Gallery celebrates the creativity and accomplishments of Arts Alumni through exhibitions and programs that will inspire current students and enable them to envision their professional lives after graduation. If you would like to exhibit your work at the Sesnon and/or partner with the Gallery on a program or event, please email us.
Please consider making a donation to the Sesnon Gallery to support exhibitions and professional development opportunities for our students.
Thank you
Your gift of any size will allow the Sesnon Galleries to continue providing world-class contemporary art programming to UC Santa Cruz, support student success and professional development opportunities, and uplift the creativity of students, faculty, and alumni.
For more information
Contact: Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery
Porter College
1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Email: sesnon@ucsc.edu
Stay in touch
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