The Art of Healing

The Ontario Museum of History & Art (OMHA) and Chaffey Community Museum of Art (CCMA) are pleased to present The Art of Healing, the fourth collaboration between the two museums. All four exhibits have been organized in the same way: presenting a single theme, interpreted in two distinct ways. 

The Art of Healing explores the concept of art promoting healing in those who are ill, their families, and in the artists themselves. Locally, this was exemplified in the mid-1950s when San Antonio Community Hospital assembled an art collection to display on hospital walls and in patient rooms. As its name implies, CCMA’s exhibit Highlights from the San Antonio Hospital Collection presents selected works of art from the hospital’s collection. OMHA’s exhibition, Holistic Expressions, showcases the transformative power art can have on the healing process through the work of five artists living in Southern California.

The Art of Healing: Holistic Expressions

Thursday, June 27 – Sunday, November 17, 2024

The Art of Healing: Holistic Expressions explores the connection between the healing process and artistic practices. The process of creating art can promote mindfulness and relaxation, often reducing stress and anxiety that can allow individuals to gain insights into their inner selves and process complex feelings or traumas. Engaging in this artistic practice can foster a sense of empowerment. By creating, these artists center themselves as active agents who determine how their stories of healing are told, rather than letting pain, grief, or victimization dominate their narratives.

The works in this exhibition demonstrate how artists approach healing through their creative practice to focus on their restorative health and well-being. Through painting, drawing, sculpting, writing, and other forms of expression, the featured artists in the exhibition, Amabelle Aguiluz, Flora Kao, Denise Silva, Melissa Ellyn Watkins, and Caylin Yorba-Ruiz, use these techniques as a powerful avenue for healing and self-discovery.

Día de los Muertos:

Healing & Remembrance

Thursday, October 3 – Sunday, November 17, 2024

The Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) holiday, a unique cultural event with a long-standing tradition in Latin America and strong ties to indigenous Mexican culture, is celebrated annually on November 1 and 2. This fall, the Ontario Museum of History & Art will present its 26th iteration of its annual Día de los Muertos exhibition. The Museum invites you to experience artists’ exploration of their connections with the holiday and its history. Artists will present a multicultural view of life and death through various media, including paintings, sculptures, video, mixed media, photography, and altar installations.

Built on Water

In 2017, the Ontario Museum of History & Art began developing a new permanent exhibition, which was inspired by efforts underway to redesign the Museum’s landscaping with native plants and water-saving features.  Curatorial staff realized there was a bigger story to tell about water and its importance in Ontario.   In 2018, the Museum was awarded a Museums for America grant from the Institute of Library and Museum Services for this new exhibit.   

Built on Water: Ontario and Inland Southern California focuses on the history, present and future of water in the Ontario region and the Chino Basin. Built on Water brings together the story of local water agencies, regional tribes, agriculture, water conservation, and the establishment of the City of Ontario.  Developed collaboratively with local archivists, water agencies, teachers, tribal members, college students and historians, the 1,200 square-foot exhibition also has educational programming and interactive components which allow for learning and discovery for all ages. 

Learn from artifacts and images of early water infrastructure, explore the future of water management in a new mobile app, listen to the voices of our community’s water guardians, and follow the life of a Monarch butterfly through a one-of-a-kind VR experience.