Each year the Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery explores a variety of contemporary and historical issues in art and design, by exhibiting the works of professional artists and designers, collections of historical of art, and through collaborative programs with other art institutions in the Bay Area. Thompson Gallery exhibitions have traveled to other museums and galleries nationwide, and are documented by catalogues that provide in-depth interpretive analyses based on original scholarship.

In addition the School of Art and Design has galleries and displays dispersed throughout the art facilities, continually displaying the ongoing artwork of our students. The smaller galleries provide a place to display what our students are passionate about, what they work on every day, and give us all a glimpse of the future of art.