Oxnard Museum Collection Up for Grabs

Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard. Photo by Craig Baker, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Ventura County Reporter examines the fate of the Carnegie Art Museum's small permanent collection. In 2019 the city of Oxnard closed its municipally funded beaux-arts structure, a former library. The action, once spun as temporary, has become permanent. There is now talking of reopening the building as a multi-purpose "arts center" with classes and event rental spaces. That would presumably mean finding a new home for the collection. City manager Alex Nguyen denies claims that the collection will be sold.

The ragtag collection of 2000 objects, many works on paper, spans Albrecht Dürer to Mad magazine cartoonist Sergio Aragonés. It  is most notable for unique pieces by Chicano artists, who have been featured in exhibitions. There are works by Carlos Almaraz, Harry Gamboa Jr., Gronk, Frank Romero, John Valadez, and Patssi Valdez. Also represented are Mabel Alvarez, Jessie Arms Botke, George Hurrell, Suzanne Jackson, Millard Sheets, and Beatrice Wood.

These are tough times for museums in Oxnard. The privately funded Mullin Automotive Museum closed in Feb., to be followed by the Murphy Auto Museum in July.

Gronk, Enter Tormenta (large detail), 2001. Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard