Young Art 2027: Senses

On View June 12–August 15, 2027

The San Diego Museum of Art’s biennial youth exhibition, Young Art, holds the extraordinary distinction of being the longest-running program in the Museum’s history. Young Art 2027: Senses continues The San Diego Museum of Art’s longstanding commitment to showcasing the creativity, voice, and vision of youth artists across San Diego County and the Tijuana region. As the Museum’s longest-running youth program, Young Art has provided generations of emerging artists with a meaningful platform for expression, experimentation, and public engagement. In its 49th edition, Senses expands this legacy by inviting TK–12 youth to explore the senses through art to communicate ideas, shape the way we experience the world, and create personal meaning.

Centered on sensory experience, Young Art 2027: Senses features artwork by youth from San Diego County and the Tijuana region. This juried exhibition invites youth artists to create work inspired by one or more senses, including touch, sound, smell, sight, taste, another unique sense, or even synesthesia, when one sense is experienced through another, such as seeing colors while listening to music. Artwork might use texture that invites touch, sound that tells a story, scent that evokes a memory, light or color that creates a feeling, or materials that suggest the idea of taste. Through their work, students are invited to share their perspectives and explore the many ways they experience and understand the world. Submissions open October 2026.

Young Art 2027 will be featured in the Dammeyer gallery at the Museum of Photographic Arts at The San Diego Museum of Art (MOPA@SDMA) and is scheduled to open June 2027. We encourage all schools, teachers, guardians, and caregivers of youth artists to apply. Be sure to check our website and follow our social media for important announcements.

See past exhibitions:
– Young Art 2025: Nurture and Nature
– Explorations: 17th Annual Juried Youth Exhibition
– Young Art 2023: Comfort and Calm
– Magic & Myth: 16th Annual Juried Youth Exhibition
– Young Art 2021: My World, Our Planet

Submit Art to Young Art 2027

Submission guidelines, including information on the parameters of what works of art will be considered for the juried exhibition, are coming soon. Please review the Young Art submission guidelines (coming soon!), the list of important dates on the right sidebar of this webpage, and the FAQs below before preparing youth art submissions.

We invite all youth artists from San Diego County and the Tijuana region to find inspiration at The San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA) and MOPA@SDMA. Explore and respond to artworks from the Museum’s collection, either in person or through online resources.

Featured: April Avila Rojas, Sentimientos (detail), 2023. Pastel. 6th grade, New Horizon Institute. Collection of the artist. ©April Avila Rojas

FAQ

What are the guidelines for submission?

Works may be created in two- or three-dimensional media and must meet the Young Art: Senses Guidelines for Submission (coming soon) to be considered. A wide range of media is encouraged, including painting, journals, drawing, printmaking, photography, digital media, video, mixed media, collage, sculpture, fiber arts, sound-based works, and interactive or participatory works. Food and ingestible materials are not permitted. All artworks should meaningfully engage at least one sense and express the personal and diverse ways students experience the world.

Who can submit artwork?

All TK–12 students from San Diego County and the Tijuana region (public, private, and home schools) may submit artwork through an adult representative.

How are the artworks submitted?

Complete information on this process will be available in Fall 2026. Digital submissions will be open October 2026 through December 2026.

How are the works of art exhibited inside the Museum selected?

A jury of Museum curators, educators, and the SDMA 2026–2027 Teen Council will select works for exhibition based on originality, visual and sensory impact, craftsmanship, age appropriateness, and the strength of the connection to the theme of sensory experience and the Museum’s collection.

How will artists be notified of acceptance?

Participating educators, adults, and youth representatives will be notified by email whether or not their students’ works of art have been selected for exhibition in Young Art 2027. Notification emails will be sent in December 2026.

How are exhibiting students recognized?

Students selected for the Museum’s exhibition will be invited to a celebration for Young Art 2027 artists, families, adult representatives, and educators in June 2027.

 

Digital invitations to the reception will be sent to the adult representatives of exhibiting students who submitted the works of art.