Campus visual arts explorations for commencement revelers at UCLA

Have you ever seen a Rembrandt, van Gogh or Monet painting up close? A sculpture by Auguste Rodin? A Judith Baca mural? A John Baldessari work?

If you’re visiting UCLA this weekend for commencement, you can do all of the above, plus so much more.  

Check out our guide to free campus public art and current exhibitions below.

Hammer Museum

Corner of Wilshire and Westwood (plan your visit)

Just a short trip south through Westwood village is the renowned Hammer Museum on the. On view now are a series of eclectic exhibitions that just opened last weekend, including the Hammer’s first fashion exhibition featuring transdisciplinary artists Wataru Tominaga from Tokoyo and New York collective Concept Foreign Garments New York; the first ever solo exhibition for Pilipino artist David Medalla, and a selection of works on paper from the Hammer’s Grunwald collection curated by artist and UCLA alum E.J. Hill.  Here you’ll also find the Armand Hammer Collection where you can spend some quality time with the legendary masters.

Image: Claude Monet, View of Bordighera, 1884 Oil on canvas. 26 x 32 3/16 in. (66 x 81.8 cm). The Armand Hammer Collection, Gift of the Armand Hammer Foundation. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

Fowler Museum

At the base of the Tongva steps (plan your visit)

A brief stroll away from most campus commencement venues, you can check out installations from the Fowler’s permanent collections and an exhibition titled Descanse en Paz: Memorial Paintings from 19th-Century Mexico.

Image: Artist(s) unknown (Mexico), Retrato (portrait) of M.R.M. (Most Reverend Mother) Sor (Sister) María Ángela de la Purísima Concepción, 19th century; paint, canvas, wood, metal; Fowler Museum at UCLA, X87.6a; Gift of Dorothy M. Cordry in memory of Donald B. Cordry 

Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden

Just south of the Broad Art Center (map)

A bit deeper into campus is a serene patch of greenery that boasts one of the most distinguished outdoor sculpture installations in the country. The Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden spans more than five acres of UCLA’s campus with over 70 sculptures by artists such as Hans Arp, Deborah Butterfield, Alexander Calder, Barbara Hepworth, Jacques Lipchitz, Henry Moore, Auguste Rodin, and David Smith.

Have you ever wanted to know more about the pieces in the sculpture garden? To explore in greater depth, download the Bloomberg Connects app and use the Hammer Museum’s digital guide while you’re in the space! This app features a self-guided audio tour of nine key works in the garden, researched and recorded by student educators at the Hammer Museum. Find the tour under the 'Collections' tab!"

Image: Gerhard Marcks, Maja (viewed in situ), 1941
Bronze. 88 x 25 x 23 in. (223.5 x 63.5 x 58.4 cm). Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, University of California, Los Angeles. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Warner and the UCLA Art Council. Courtesy Hammer Museum. Photo by Joshua White.

Robert Graham Sculptures

Rolfe Courtyard, north side of Royce Hall (map) and outside Schoenberg Hall (map)

UCLA is home to multiple sculptures from Mexican-American artist Robert Graham, including two in the larger sculpture garden. Graham’s work is also found in a meditative series of statues outside Rolfe Hall. A three-quarter scale version of Graham’s Duke Ellington Memorial in New York’s Central Park is located outside Schoenberg.

Image: Christelle Snow ’02. Robert Graham Studio, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Judith Baca: “La Memoria de la Tierra: UCLA”

Wescom Student Terrace- Second floor of Ackerman Union (map)

Commissioned in honor of UCLA’s 2019 centennial and officially installed and unveiled in April 2022, this near 80-foot mural by one of today’s most accomplished muralists and Chicana artists brings together evocative scenes from past, present and future.

Art Collection at the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center

Throughout public spaces inside the Luskin Conference Center
Where Westwood ends (map)

UCLA’s conference center and hotel is home to around 400 unique pieces on permanent display. Among the most well-known artists whose work can be found here include Lita Albuquerque, John Baldessari, Barbara Vija Celmins, Ed Moses, Ed Ruscha and others. Most of these works are found on the first and second floors in public spaces and most are by artists with ties to UCLA, demonstrating the depth and breadth of the university’s influence on the area art scene and beyond.

Image: Face with Nose and Ear © 2006 John Baldessari Artist and Gemini G.E.L. LLC

Header Image:
Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi, ARENA V, 2024

Acrylic, vinyl, medium-density fiberboard, sound. Installed dimensions variable. Installation view, Hammer Projects: Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, February 9–August 11, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Stevenson, Cape Town / Johannesburg / Amsterdam. Photo: Jeff McLane.

Currently on view in Hammer Museum lobby.