They exhibited their special representations of artwork including sculptural installations, textile drawings, embroidery, book projects, and photographic series.

[8] In 2017, MCASD began its most recent expansion led by architect Annabelle Selldorf, which increased its size and added a public park.

The museum was originally the 1915 residence of newspaper heiress and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, designed by the noted architect Irving Gill.

[21][22] The new name also acknowledged the larger geographic context and the population base of nearly 3 million in San Diego County, and opened a $1.2-million satellite facility downtown in 1993, further embracing the region.

It houses curatorial offices, art-handling and storage facilities, an art education classroom, a lecture hall that opens onto a terrace and a boardroom with a view of the harbor.

[27] In 2012, museum received 30 contemporary pieces from the 1950s to 1980s, with artworks from Piero Manzoni, Ad Dekkers, Christo, Jules Olitski and Franz Kline, as well as California artists Craig Kauffman and Ron Davis, from the collection of Vance E. Kondon and his wife Elisabeth Giesberger.

[28] As a site-specific installation, Irwin created 1° 2° 3° 4° (1997), consisting of squarish apertures cut into three lightly tinted museum windows so visitors have an unmediated view of the horizon line separating sea and sky and can feel the ocean breeze.

[29] In May 2021, MCASD sent nine paintings and one sculpture from its collection to auction in New York, selling works by Roy Lichtenstein, Conrad Marca-Relli, Lorser Feitelson and six other postwar American artists for nearly $900,000.

[19] Annual support comes from a balanced mix of individuals, corporations, foundations, government agencies, and interest earned from the endowment, the majority of which came from a transformational 1999 bequest from Rea and Jackie Axline of more than $30 million.