10 Must - See Exhibitions To See During San Francisco Art week

Located within San Francisco’s Minnesota Street Project—one of the city’s gallery complexes—Eleanor Harwood Gallery hosts a solo exhibition by Carmen McNall that centers on transition, refuge, and continuity. The presentation reflects the gallery’s ongoing interest in practices that balance material sensitivity with narrative depth, allowing concept and craft to unfold in tandem.

McNall’s paintings explore thresholds—doorways, portals, and interior passages—that open into spaces of protection and possibility. These moments of transition are rendered with a quiet whimsy, where movement between spaces feels fluid rather than fixed. Past, present, and future coexist, echoing architectural forms associated with arrival and transformation. Throughout the exhibition, vessels, hands, and domestic interiors act as carriers of memory and knowledge, while quilted and woven net-like patterns function as systems of support and connection. Female figures anchor the compositions, embodying strength, confidence, and sustained energy.

What we love: The exhibition creates a contemplative environment that honors transition and remembrance, celebrating the freedom found in not being contained.

Carmen McNall at Eleanor Harwood Gallery.
January 10-February 28, 2026