This spring, Oceanside Museum of Art, in partnership with the Ilan Lael Foundation, will reveal a previously untold chapter in the life of world-renowned artist James Hubbell, framing his legacy through the lens of brotherhood and shared connection through art.
Brothers in Arts: James Hubbell and Bert Hubbell (April 11 – September 6 at OMA) explores the parallel lives of two brothers who forged singular artistic paths on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean. Born in the 1930s and coming of age in the shadow of World War II and the atomic age, James and Bert Hubbell each devoted their lives to art as a moral, spiritual, and balancing force in a world marked by instability.
James rooted his practice in Southern California, drawing inspiration from the landscape, its proximity to Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean. Working from his hand-built home and studios in Santa Ysabel, he merged visual art, poetry, and philosophy into a holistic vision aligned with outsider traditions and spiritual thinkers such as William Blake, creating a bridge between heaven and earth.
Bert, who spent more than 50 years living in Kokubunji near Mt. Fuji, was deeply influenced by Japanese culture, Shinto and Animist belief systems, and Native American art. A self-described “primitive artist,” he worked across media but most prolifically in ceramic sculpture, creating tens of thousands of fantastical, “earth figures” that seemed to emerge from his hands as if they were growing naturally from a spiritual force within himself. . Notably, Bert never sold his work, leaving behind an estimated 28,000 ceramic figures, along with paintings, drawings, and assemblages.
Separated for 60 years, the brothers maintained written correspondence, exchanging letters that reveal a profound desire to understand one another and grapple with art’s role in humanity. Towards the end of his life in 2024, James encouraged his grandsons to seek out their great-uncle during a trip to Japan. When they arrived at Bert’s home and found it empty, a Japanese friend helped locate him in hospital, gravely ill with pneumonia. The brothers’ final reunion took place via video call. Neither could speak, but they smiled and waved across the vast distance one last time before passing away within weeks of each other.
Curated by James’ son Brennan Hubbell, the exhibition brings together James’ watercolors, stained glass, sculpture, and poetry alongside Bert’s ceramic figures, contextualized by letters, journals, photographs, and sketches that illuminate their lifelong bond. Together, these works reveal two distinct yet deeply aligned visions: brothers separated by geography and united by a belief in art’s power to hold creation and destruction, light and dark, in balance.
Brothers in Arts and OMA’s spring exhibitions will be celebrated at the public Exhibition Celebration on May 2, 2026, from 5pm – 7pm.
About Oceanside Museum of Art
Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA) is a non-profit organization that began providing exhibitions and public programs in 1995 as part of their mission to bring people together to explore the art and stories of Southern California artists. OMA’s exhibition program is dynamic and robust, surprising visitors with a fresh and exciting visual experience nearly every visit. In addition to these boundary-pushing contemporary art exhibitions, OMA’s programming includes youth education programs, adult art classes, concerts, films, and creative community parties and events that appeal to locals and tourists alike. The OMA experience stimulates imagination, presents new ideas, and challenges the familiar in a welcoming environment for those new to art, longtime museum-goers, artists, art students, or simply the curious. For more information on Oceanside Museum of Art, visit www.oma-online.org
