The Triton Museum of Art, at 1505 Warburton Ave. in Santa Clara, is free. The museum says admission to its exhibitions is free, along with parking and many community events.
History
Rancher, lawyer and art patron W. Robert Morgan and his wife June founded the museum in San Jose in 1965, according to Wikipedia. It moved to Santa Clara less than two years later. Exhibits were first held in four pavilions in a seven-acre park. The current 22,000-square-foot building, with high ceilings and pyramid-shaped skylights, was finished in October 1987. Wikipedia calls it the oldest non-university museum in Santa Clara County.
The museum focuses on artists of the greater Bay Area. Its permanent collections include the Austen D. Warburton collection of Indigenous American art and artifacts. Wikipedia says it also has the largest public holdings of paintings by Theodore Wores.
On view now
The museum's site lists five current shows: Eye/Hand by Harry Clewans and Rose Sellery: Fragile Strength (both through Jan. 3), -futility in three acts- by Sieglinde Van Damme (through Jan. 10), and Intrusive Thoughts by Devon Blood and Here and There by Tim Guan (both through Jan. 17). Mitchell Johnson: Fifty Years of Painting is one of the shows opening Jan. 16.
Getting there
Warburton Avenue is just off El Camino Real, across the street from the Santa Clara Civic Center. The museum says it's a five-minute walk from the Monroe and Warburton bus stop. From Santa Clara Caltrain it's about a 30-minute walk, or a five-minute ride on the 59 or 21 bus from the Santa Clara Transit Center.