From reinvention to launch

Together with creative studio iii Design, the museum’s board and staff + the support of a multi-year grant from the James Irvine Foundation, Bess creator Christy Mack built on the 50 year history of an offbeat art center located in the heart of San Luis Obispo’s Mission Plaza and transformed it into the region’s first contemporary art museum.

Christy and the creative team chose a new name, the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art (SLOMA), in collaboration with the community and then designed a new brand identity, complete with story, logo, palette, and typography for the museum. They created collateral to highlight free exhibits, a permanent collection resurrected from storage, upcoming film series, lectures, classes, and workshops, all while calling on the public to join and give. The team built + launched a new website and social media presence.

Christy and the creative team also guided the museum’s staff in freshening up the building to match the museum’s new identity. They repainted the museum’s red and purple exterior walls a modern, fresh grey, but kept the original copper etched tile mural and figurative sculpture as a nod to the museum’s history. Inside, they ripped up old carpets, polished cement floors, painted the walls white, and added moveable walls for flexible exhibit space.

Christy along with the creative team and museum staff launched the museum’s identity online, in print + in all corners of the revived museum space, inside and out. A lively, vibrant new kind of museum was created, attracting artists from all over California, along with locals and visitors.

This once tiny offbeat art center has seen attendance and donations increase since becoming a museum. The museum board and staff now have their sights on a $12 million capital campaign for a new building designed by the San Francisco based firm Barcelon Jang Architecture that will expand the museum’s footprint from 5,000 to over 20,000 square feet, bringing even more art exhibits, programming and events to California’s Central Coast communities.