Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery

Located in the Center for the Arts complex, the Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery exhibits regional, national and international contemporary artists and sponsors a juried student exhibition every spring semester. 

The gallery is named for Tucson’s noted photographer and teacher Louis Carlos Bernal, the founding photography instructor at Pima Community College. 

The gallery and its programs are free and open to the public.

Upcoming Exhibit

The American Landscape: An Endangered Species – Joseph DiGiorgio’s The Grand Canyon

January 30 – March 10, 2023

Reception: February 9, 5-7 p.m.
Lecture: February 9, 6 pm, Dr. Julie Sasse, Chief Curator Tucson Museum of Art (CFA, Recital Hall)

The Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery presents “The American Landscape: An Endangered Species – Joseph DiGiorgio’s The Grand Canyon.” Joseph DiGiorgio’s “The Grand Canyon,” is a 24 panel oil on canvas painting created in pointillism style (1985). The Bernal Gallery is displaying 19 of the 24 panels plus a video. Each panel is 7’ tall and represents one hour in the day at the Grand Canyon. Joseph DiGiorgio’s “The Grand Canyon,” was gifted by the artist to the Tucson Museum of Art and remains in their permanent collection. Joe was an avid painter and New York artist. He was born in Brooklyn and attended the famed Cooper Union College. He lived in Manhattan until his untimely death in 2000 (1931-2000).

This exhibition is the first collaboration between the Tucson Museum of Art (TMA) and the Bernal Gallery. Gallery Director David Andres says, “We are honored to exhibit most of the 24 panels and have Dr. Julie Sasse, Chief Curator of Contemporary and Modern Art, coming to speak about Joe DiGiorgio’s artwork and his gift to TMA.” The 110’ foot panoramic painting was first shown in part at Joseph DiGiorgio’s New York Gallery and only once in its entirety at TMA in 1997. This exhibit also honors Tucson Art Collector Dan Leach. Andres says, “Dan introduced Joe to the Southwestern United States and in particular to Tucson and the Grand Canyon.”

The exhibit is in conjunction with Pima Theatre’s “Sunday in the Park with George”, a James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning 1984 musical inspired by the French pointillist painter George Seurat, and his famous painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”. Directed by Chris Will.

Past Exhibits

Invisible Borders: Women Photographers from Fotógrafas del Norte, MAPA – Estado de México, and BorderLens Southwest

Invisible Borders, an exhibition of 31 female photographers from México and Southern Arizona.  Fotográfas del Norte from the northern border states of MÉXICO, MAPA a group of photographers from the state of Mexico, and BorderLens Southwest, a new group of Tucson female photographers represent the artists in this massive exhibition. Collaboration with photographer Alejandra Platt-Torres and Director David Andres brings this exciting group of women photographers to the Bernal Gallery.  Andres states,

“The collaboration between the photographers, curators, and digital printer, Ernesto Esquire, brings to life the dream of having women artists from both sides of the border temporarily make the divisions disappear.”  

Photographers included in the exhibited:

FOTÓGRAFAS DEL NORTE: Sylvia Alonso, Itzel Aguilera, Adriana Balderrama, Irma Bejarle, Persia Campbell, Edith Cota, Velia de la Cruz, Alejandra Olivas Dávila, Angelica Escoto, Alicia Fernández, Laura Méndez, Liliana Hueso, Monica Lozano, Mayra Martell, Elizabeth Moreno, Natalia Barragán Orozco, Norma Domínguez, Lupita Campos. 

MAPA: Sonia Madrigal.

BORDERLENS SOUTHWEST: Megan Ace, Shari Coia, Karina Fassett, Theresa Lynne Gredig, Shelli Hall, Kalei Harmon, Marcia Lambert, Puspa Lohmeyer, Bee Ottinger, Donna Stephenson, Britten Traughber, Vicky Westover.

Sponsors for this exhibition include Kathi and Bob Sanders, Donna and Frank Whitman, LAAP Latin American Art Patrons/TMA, and a grant from BorderLens SW and MOCA Tucson. 

A Tribute to Clay

A Tribute to Clay, an exhibition of nine artists specializing in clay: Marcy Wrenn, Maurice Grossman, Lauren Grossman, Aurora Chabot, Joy Fox McGrew, Colleen Quigley, Hiro Tashima, Kazuma Sambe, and Andy Iventosh. Sculptural forms created by artists past and present, hand built or thrown on the wheel.

Marcy Wrenn (1934-2021) was the catalyst for bringing these artists together.  An award-winning artist that taught at Pima College and taught children in Australia’s Outback. Famed University of Arizona professor emeritus Maurice Grossman (1925 -2007) was Marcy’s teacher. He and his daughter, ceramic professor Lauren Grossman, who lives in the Seattle area were family friends and are included in the exhibit.  Well-known southern artist Joy Fox McGrew is showing wall art and large sculptures, she is represented by Etherton Gallery. Aurore Chabot, head of the University of Arizona’s Ceramics Department; Andy Iventosch who throws large vessels; and Hiro Tashima, lead faculty for Pima Community College’s ceramics department are part of this exhibition. Colleen Quigley and Kazuma Sambe round out the regional ceramic artists and are represented by the Yung Gee Gallery. Marcy’s family left a sizable award to the Bernal Gallery to award ceramic scholarships. 

Visual Arts Gallery presents @ West Campus

PaperWorks Sonoran Collective for Paper and Book Artists

This exhibit included artist books, drawings, paintings, and prints on paper. Over 45 artists will be exhibited including Jo Andersen, Bobbie Wilson, Jennie Sweo, and more. Paperworks Sonoran Artist Collective encourages students to make artist books, collages, drawings, paintings, prints, and photographs, on paper. Every year they donate to the awards presented by The Bernal Gallery’s Juried Student Exhibit. For the 2021 – 2022 academic year, Paperworks is donating $2000 in Awards for Pima College Art Students.

PaperWorks provides educational and creative opportunities for all who love to work with and on paper. They promote the appreciation and enjoyment of the paper and book arts through monthly meetings, workshops, classes, community exhibitions, and scholarships. For more information about PaperWorks, please visit their website at paperworks.info

What Place is This with Wayne Gudmundson & Threads of Immigration with Perla Segovia

Photographer Wayne Gudmundson is a professor emeritus from Minnesota State University Moorhead. He’s featured in the collections at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Tucson’s Center for Creative Photography and others. His photographs investigate lost battle scenes from the Southern Border to Picacho Peak’s Civil War battle, photographing what this historic area is now.

Perla Segovia is an emerging artist who constructs installations about the impact of immigration on the American border. She is originally from Peru and immigrated to the U.S. Her installations are complex threaded and sewn remembrances of children and families of immigrants attempting to cross the border for a better life. 

American Renaissance by Alanna Airitam & Wayne Martin Belger

Two internationally-known photographers. Wayne Martin Belger works with political imagery from national and international situations, such as Standing Rock, Zapatista soldiers in Chiapas, Mexico, and refugee camps in Lesbos, Greece.

Alanna Airitam, an African American photographer, works with portraiture and still life that reflects the African American experience. Both photographers live and work in Tucson and have exhibited internationally. 

View the exhibit

Egress – Works on Paper with Alice Browne, Anthony Banks & George Little

Three London-based artists exhibited their works on paper. These emerging artists are graduates of the Royal College of Art and have exhibited in the U.K., Europe and U.S.

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Rethinking Social Justice Online Exhibit

This exhibit featured artwork by Tucson artists Allison Miller and Alfred Quiroz.

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2021-2022 Student Art Exhibits

Lockdown Year at the Art Gallery @ Downtown Campus

Sep. 13, 2021 – May 16, 2022

In the year of COVID we were all locked in, we continued to grow and create. This show exhibits artworks created by Pima students during that time. 

Egress No. 2 at the Visual Arts Student Gallery @ West Campus

Sep. 20, 2021 – Jan. 28, 2022

Featuring all student art and media from the Visual Arts and Digital Arts Departments. View the Egress No. 2 Exhibit.