The Arts District at Liberty Station is unveiling its latest cumulation of local artistry.
With several exhibitions, the 2026-27 emerging artists residency class and the Installations at the Station program all underway, a wide variety of new works are now on display as part of the Liberty Station Art in Public Places initiative.
Emerging Artists Residency Class
The current emerging artists residency class includes six local artists, with work ranging from movement-based expression to visual art. The program is intended to empower early-career visual artists and contemporary dancers with free studio space, mentorship and public platforms.
“The emerging artist residency is one of our most underrated and underknown programs, but it is such a gorgeous opportunity. It is a residency program, with two reserved spaces for local artists to have six to 11 months within the Arts District,” said Arts District Liberty Station Associate Director of Creative Programs Gaby Quevedo. “Every year we do an open call for San Diego and our Baja, and Tijuana neighbors. We invite artists to be within the studio space.”
Each artist in the program will have temporary residency in Barracks 14, two of which already have works on view.
Through January, the works of Iranian visual artist Tina Mardan and fiber artist Marisa Olson will be displayed. Mardan’s work incorporates photography, painting, drawing and interdisciplinary art. Olson’s works use quilts, needlework and fabric to explore themes of love, obsession, intimacy and vulnerability.
Then, from February to July, the works of interdisciplinary artist Sheeva Davari and surrealist painter Connie Leung will be displayed.
Arts District Liberty Station will also showcase its new cohort of four dancers and movement artists for a residency that extends through May.
They are:
• Diane Campaña, a Mexican American artist who explores themes of identity, mobility, memory, and belonging through contemporary dance, video-dance and community-based artistic processes.
• Aisha Reddick, who grounds her practice in contemporary dance and improvisation, drawing on collaborative exploration to cultivate environments where artistic expression can flourish without limitation.
• Nick McGhee, who draws from modern dance, ballet and improvisational movement, while weaving somatic exploration with technical rigor to examine themes of perception, memory, identity, and human connection.
• Odessa Uno, who specializes in contemporary dance and collaborative research, using movement as a tool to cultivate critical thinking, emotional awareness and deep social connection.
Gallery 201
Another new addition to the Station’s artistic offerings is the latest exhibition being shown in Gallery 201, located on the second floor of Building 201.
“Every couple of months, we have something very exciting going on at Gallery 201,” Quevedo said. “Whether it is flea markets, DJ sets or staging, it is always a great idea to follow along and see what we are up to.”
Currently, the gallery is home to Material is Process, an exhibition featuring work from members of the previous Emerging Artist cohort, Ana Saad and Audrey Gringas. Through their respective approaches, Gingras and Saad explore themes of memory, transition and play.
Ana Saad (Arts District Liberty Station)
This year, in addition to local artist residencies, the Art in Public Places initiative is bringing in curators, offering artists the chance to fully experience the business side of the industry.
Through this mentorship program, Quevedo said, “The artists get to experience the relationship and dynamic between artists and curators, that really prepares them for the professional level of being an artist.”
One of this year’s curators-in-residence at Gallery 201 is Francisco Eme.
“I guide the artists in creating a project that could be presented in a professional setting,” Eme said. “Sometimes emerging artists think about just one or two paintings and then think about something else. During this residency, we focus on them thinking about it more as a whole project.
Guiding the artist throughout the creative process, Eme helped assemble the current exhibitions in Gallery 201.
“Gallery 201 is a result of six months of creating and thinking. Each piece of work has its own statement and interest,” he explained. “I try to get the artists to question their ideas and create more ideas. The current exhibition is about materials, if you go to the exhibition, you will see very non-traditional material used for artistic purposes.”
Installations at the Station
Other works that are nearly complete are being done as part of the Installations at the Station program, which places temporary, site-specific art throughout Liberty Station.
These installations include a mural from San Diego artist Enrique “Chikle” Lugo and an immersive sensory pavilion sculpture by Baja-based artist Laura Esela Huerta.
Lugo’s work is expected to be complete by the end of summer, and is located by The Lot movie theater. Known as “Estación Libertad,” the mural honors the shared spirit of San Diego and Tijuana through the visual language of American Traditional tattooing.
In the early fall, Huerta’s “Memory of Soil” sculpture will be installed. This immersive sensory pavilion consists of fractured terracotta clay (using pigmented mortar) and sand, and emulates the shared territory and landscape between Baja California and California. In the center of the pavilion, there will be seating structures, allowing visitors to enter, rest and remember the land between borders.
“Art is questioning, art is thinking about other forms of living,” Eme said. “In this space, it was created for military purposes and now it has galleries, which is a beautiful symbol of hope and change.”
More information on the Arts District at Liberty Station can be found at artsdistrictlibertystation.org