Current Exhibit

Imagination Expressed 2025
Pleasanton Art League at Museum on Main
January 23 - March 15

Once again Pleasanton's art community (with help from Livermore, Dublin, Sunol and other neighbors) brings its members' latest work to Museum on Main for our 18th annual collaboration.
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Wei-Ting Chuang, Blossom Dream. East Asian brush painting.

The Jean P. Jones Gallery 

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Our permanent exhibit Growing Pleasanton uses objects, images, and narrative to follow the history of this area and its peoples from the Ohlone tribes who first lived here to the suburban community of today's city. You can learn more about Growing Pleasanton here.

Kid's Corner

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Kids are welcome to drop in and explore the Kid's Corner!  The Kid's Corner is an exhibit area designed for preschool through early elementary ages with dress up, craft activities, books, old time games, and more.  Activities change periodically throughout the year, so drop by and see what's new!

2025 Upcoming Exhibits

PAL's Pals 2025
March 22 - 29

Pleasanton Art League brings the work of 65 gifted young artists from 27 Bay Area schools to Museum on Main in this year's edition of their annual youth art competition. Acclaimed California painter Paul Kratter serves as the juror for this exhibition of exciting young art talent.

Downtown Past, Downtown Present
April 1 - May 10

See how Main Street has changed over the decades by looking at its iconic locations both then and now.
While our rotating exhibit gallery is closed for collections storage inventory, our center hallway will feature an updated version of this popular interactive exhibit.
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"Metamorphosis" by Dana Yang. Conte on black paper.
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855 Main Street, circa 1920 and today. Museum on Main

From Earthquakes to Epidemics
How Disasters Transform California's People and Places
May 22 - September 20

Living in California means living with natural disasters, and as climate change accelerates we experience more frequent and more intense disasters. Their impact on Californians varies widely, depending not only on location but also upon socioeconomic factors such as race and wealth.From Earthquakes to Epidemics explores the impact of natural and man-made disasters and pandemics in California, using the humanities as a lens to give context to the impacts of recent and historic disasters in the Golden State.
Stories within the exhibit represent the entire state of California, and reflect historic and contemporary issues. From fires to floods, from earthquakes to droughts, from the 1918 flu to the COVID-19 pandemic, visitors will learn about major events in California’s history, and how many disasters actually inspired positive changes within our communities.
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Incarcerated firefighter at the Rim fire in Stanislaus National Forest, 2013. US Department of Agriculture.
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A rescue boat in Yuba City during the flood of 1955. Photo by Floyd Winters; courtesy of Sutter County Library.

Recent Exhibits

Gadgets Galore!
Transforming the American Household
Oct. 10, 2024 - Jan. 11, 2025

PictureMaytag washer, 1930s. Museum on Main collection.
The tools and devices of everyday home life provide a window into how America has changed since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Through curling irons and telephones, phonographs and washing machines, Gadgets Galore shows how technological innovation, industrial transportation, and mass communications have shaped our everyday experience.
Gadgets Galore! Is presented by Museum on Main and Exhibit Envoy

​Textures of Remembrance
Vietnamese artists and writers reflect on the Vietnamese diaspora
June 11 - September 28, 2024

April 30 is a date often remembered poignantly, especially by those of South Vietnamese descent; as well, it is a date that denotes new beginnings. On this date in 1975, North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, marking the end of the Vietnam War. Reflecting on this day from past to present through written words, visual creations, and audiovisual components, this interdisciplinary exhibit reveals an intimate perspective of the diasporic experience that has been gathered, created, collected and re-collected, and imagined and re-imagined since 1975.

Textures of Remembrance is presented by the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network, Exhibit Envoy, and the Oakland Asian Cultural Center.
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Textures of My Father by Terri Trang Le, 2021