Monterey Museum of Art offers free admission through December to encourage everyone to pursue their creativity.

Agata Popęda here, happy that Monterey County is well-illuminated—from the downtowns of our cities to the homes and little businesses across the county. 

Speaking of lights, for the second year in a row, Monterey Museum of Art is back with its holiday special exhibit titled Iluminado, created to demonstrate that art can connect the community. Everyone is invited to become part of a living and growing art installation.

Admission is free and the exhibit is connected to a series of no-cost programs for adults, students and families throughout December: Yoga in the Galleries, Winter Art Market, ornament decorating and more (all events are listed on the museum’s website).

This year, the exhibit highlights two artists: muralist Alison Oksner from San Luis Obispo and multimedia artist Nada Abdelshahid from Salinas. Otherwise, the visitors are the artists, exploring various interactive elements one can play with (you will be asked to write something or look into many weird mirrors). Since the exhibit opened on Dec. 6, you can admire the work of other visitors/artists leaving their traces behind.

Oksner installed two giant “murals” made of a series of large paintings, bringing many colors to the whole exhibit. She even included the building of the Monterey Museum of Art and its surroundings. As a self-described traveling artist, she also does portraits and performance paintings. 

Abdelshahid, a CSU Monterey Bay alumna, created various mixed-media objects, including a soft and fluffy blue Christmas tree (turns out that light blue is a fantastic replacement for snow). In the front room of the museum, where the Currents series typically hangs, we can admire unconventional artwork of Monterey County students, from Salinas to Soledad. 

“We want everyone who comes to the museum to feel that they belong here,” says museum spokesperson Laurie Iwami. “Everyone is welcome.”