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Department ofArt and Art History

Evolution of Place: San Francisco’s Outer Sunset District

Jessica Dunne
Evolution of Place: San Francisco's Outer Sunset District

Exhibition Dates: Feb 18 - April 17, 2025

Edward M. Dowd Art and Art History Building
Art and Art History Gallery
Gallery Hours: M-F, 9am-4pm

Featuring Artists: Jessica Dunee

Artist Talk and Reception: April 9, 2025, 5-7 pm, Dowd Lobby

Jessica Dunne_Rain

Jessica Dunne, 2021, Rain, oil on linen, 53x78"

First I lived in a green world. Then I lived in a yellow world. Then I had to put away my Indian yellow paint. Through efforts to conserve energy, San Francisco’s street lights have changed from mercury vapor in the 1950s to high-pressure sodium in the 1990s to, most recently, LED. I’m an insomniac, so I work mostly at night. As the night has changed, my paintings have changed along with it. When we first moved here 35 years ago, I was reluctant, but it was what we could afford. I thought the Great Highway was the gloomiest place. Now I see that when you’re stuck somewhere, you learn to see it. My job as a painter is to look out the window at another foggy night and find what is miraculous in it. I’ve changed too. I work where I live. During the lockdown, I did paintings from the roof. Landscapes are not currently fashionable, but we live in landscapes. Where our feet are is where we are. I want viewers to understand what it feels like to be in this place at this exact moment–and challenge them “to see the world anew.”

–Jessica Dunn

This event is free and open to the public.


In compliance to ADA/504, please direct your accommodation request to Mitch Grieb at mfgrieb@scu.edu at least 72 hours prior to the event.