About Mare Island Art Studios

A Creative Home on Vallejo’s Waterfront

Mare Island Art Studios (MIAS) is a working art studios, galleries, and community cultural space located in a repurposed Navy warehouse on Mare Island in Vallejo, California.

For over 25 years, MIAS has provided affordable studio space, exhibitions, and community programming—connecting artists, neighbors, visitors, and collaborators through creative expression, dialogue, and shared experience. What happens here is always evolving. Each visit offers something new.

We are open to the public Sundays from 12–4pm, during exhibition runs and special events, and by appointment. Admission is always free.

Our Mission

Mare Island Art Studios exists to sustain affordable creative space and to connect Vallejo’s communities through art, culture, and shared experience.

We believe art is essential infrastructure—supporting expression, belonging, healing, and civic life. Our role is to hold space: for artists to work, for the public to engage, and for culture to grow in ways that are accessible, inclusive, and rooted in place.

Who We Are

MIAS is home to 20 resident artists working across disciplines including painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, ceramics, fiber arts, woodworking, metalwork, mixed media, and installation.

We are a member-managed collective, stewarded by artists who contribute not only their creative practices but also their time, skills, and care toward sustaining the space. Together, we produce exhibitions, maintain the building, host events, support accessibility, and share leadership responsibilities.

This collective approach allows us to keep the studios affordable while remaining open and responsive to the wider community.

OUR ARTISTS

Our Space

Our building includes:

Two gallery spaces
Working artist studios
A small retail area
Outdoor art and gathering space
Views of the Napa River and Mare Island waterfront

Housed in a former Navy warehouse on Mare Island, the space connects our work to the island’s long history of labor, industry, and reinvention. We see ourselves as caretakers of this evolving cultural site—stewarding it not only for our resident artists, but for the wider community.

In addition to our own exhibitions and programming, we offer our galleries and outdoor areas for rent. Artists, educators, nonprofits, and community groups are welcome to host exhibitions, events, workshops, classes, performances, and gatherings in this unique waterfront setting.

RENT OUR SPACE

What We Do

MIAS hosts a wide range of artistic and cultural activity, including:

Exhibitions & Open Studios

Rotating solo and group exhibitions
Retrospectives and themed shows
Vallejo Open Studios (longstanding participation)

Signature Programs & Events

Some of our most recognized and recurring programs include:

Annual Spring Show
Holiday Bazaar
Book Arts Show
Art of Community Festival
The Letting Go Art Experience
Public art initiatives and installations

These programs are artist-led and evolve in response to community needs, cultural conversations, and creative experimentation.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Rooted in Vallejo

MIAS is an intersection of many communities:
youth to seniors, emerging to established artists, families, LGBTQIA+, differently-abled visitors, working creatives, educators, and cultural organizers.

Our work engages with issues that matter locally and globally, including:

Social justice and equity
Mental health and creative wellness
Environmental awareness
Local history and placemaking
Youth engagement and education

You’ll find our work not only inside the studios, but throughout Vallejo—in schools, storefronts, public spaces, festivals, and collaborations across the city.

How It Started

MIAS began in 1999 as Coal Shed Studios, founded by artist Tim Rose in an 8,000-square-foot historic coal storage building on Mare Island.

In 2017, the studios became Coal Shed Art Studios, LLC.
In 2018, the collective relocated to its current waterfront warehouse—formerly used for Navy tug operations—and became Mare Island Art Studios.

Though the building changed, the core values remained: shared stewardship, affordability, and community access.

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Collaboration & Community

We actively collaborate with artists, organizations, schools, businesses, and civic partners throughout Vallejo and the Bay Area. These relationships help sustain a vibrant creative ecosystem and allow us to share space, resources, and visibility.