Sanchez Art Center Art Classes and Summer Art Camps

Sanchez Art Center Art Classes and Summer Art Camps offers art classes and summer art camps held in the Mary Harris Arts Education Room. The program takes place within an art center that also features three exhibition spaces called the Main Gallery, West Wing Gallery, and East Wing Gallery, where emerging and established California artists exhibit their work. The center also provides education and outreach programs designed to make art accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds.

• Schedule: Galleries are open to the public on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. (except opening Fridays); office hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 1 to 5 p.m.

In 1996, a group of artists, volunteers, and local residents, in cooperation with the City of Pacifica, leased an abandoned elementary school building and converted it into Sanchez Art Center. In 1998, with a neighborhood grant from the Peninsula Community Foundation, a team of local artists, youth, and family members completed Pacifica's first large-scale mural, which contains images that celebrate community spirit and commitment to diversity. In 2000, the Mary Harris Arts Education Room was established specifically for art classes and summer art camps. The mission of Sanchez Art Center is to create community through art.

Sanchez Art Center is part of the Pacifica Center for the Arts, a multi-use complex made up of visual and performing arts organizations as well as individual artist studios, and it provides affordable studio space for up to 30 Bay Area artists. The Art Center is home to the Art Guild of Pacifica, whose 150-plus members volunteer for exhibitions, events, and gallery sitting, and serve on the center's committees and board. Sanchez Art Center stands together with the community, activists, and artists in condemning systemic racism.

The organization is led by a board of directors that includes Arthur Takayama (President), Maryann Dresner (Secretary), Bonnie Miller (Treasurer), Misha Flores (AGP President), Jan Hanway, Summer Mei Ling Lee, Andrew Leone, Peter Loeb, and Michele Trausch. Its advisory board includes Susan Hillhouse Leask, Philip Linhares, Marian Parmenter, Jacquelin Pilar, Lawrence R. Rinder, Kathleen Salvia, Peter Selz, and Artistic Director Emeritus Jerry Ross Barrish. Staff members include Cindy Abbott, Executive Director; Alida Bray, Curatorial Director; and Linette Morales, Operations Coordinator.

Last updated May 3, 2026.