Mark your calendars, art lovers: on December 12, 2026, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will open the 2026 SECA Art Award exhibition, a joyful showcase of three rising stars from the Bay Area — CrossLypka, Em Kettner and Chanell Stone. The show runs through May 30, 2027, in the Art of California galleries on Floor 2, with each artist getting a dedicated gallery all their own.
The SECA Art Award is one of the happiest traditions in Bay Area art. Since 1967, the Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art has honored more than 90 local artists at the early stages of their careers, giving them a museum exhibition and an accompanying publication. This year’s winners were chosen after a portfolio review of more than 140 nominees and studio visits with 16 finalists.
The trio could not be more different — or more delightful. CrossLypka, the Oakland-based duo of life partners Tyler Cross and Kyle Lypka, makes sculptures shaped by their life together in Northern California, full of symmetry, cooperation and give-and-take. Em Kettner, based in Richmond, creates sculptures, tapestries and drawings about inter-abled and interdependent relationships — playful, miniature votives that celebrate the ingenuity of people with disabilities. And Chanell Stone, an Oakland photographer, explores the female body and Black American presence in the American landscape through photography, poetry and Black feminist thought.
Curated by Alison Guh and Delphine Sims, the exhibition will be accompanied by a publication with essays on all three winners. It is a wonderful reminder that some of the most inventive art in the country is being made right here in the Bay Area. Plan a December visit to SFMOMA and meet the artists shaping the future of contemporary art.
Photo: SFMOMA
