Current Exhibitions
Clay Sustains: Vessels of Change
January 17-April 5, 2026
Photo Credits: Joan Takayama-Ogawa,Tipping Point Series, SUVs, 2008,Glazed earthenware,5 in. high x 8 in. wide x 8 in. deep, Courtesy of the artist; Courtney Mattison, Aqueduct, 2016, Glazed stoneware and porcelain, 250 x 250 x 50 cm (98 x 98 x 20 in), Courtesy of the artist; Shiyuan Xu, Hybrid #4, 2022, Porcelain paperclay, Glaze, 24 × 9.5 × 19 in., Courtesy of the artist; Dharma Strasser MacColl, Freefall I, 2024, Hand-dyed porcelain, mason stains,102 x 113 in. Courtesy of the artist.
This exhibition features 18 artists focusing an exceptional body of work on issues of environmental crisis and cultural sustainability. A diverse selection of clay materials, processes, and forms will engage viewers in meaningful inquiry into multiple ideas of “sustainability." Clay Sustains continues the Palo Alto Art Center’s Centering: Clay and Community series, here in the form of ceramic artwork, where creative vessels and forms (whose basic elements are earth, water, mineral) and their technologies of making (whose elements are fire and air) ask us to look more closely. How can earth itself be fashioned into art that serves as sustenance in our challenging contemporary world? If we consider ceramics as vessels of change, how can these works help us understand ideas of “sustainability” in the face of cultural and environmental change? This exhibition is guest curated by independent curator Rina Faletti, Ph.D.
Artists
Mitra Fabian
Christopher Fortin
Tanja Geis
Marsha Godoy-Schindler
Lisa Heikka-Huber with Edward Eng
Nathan Lynch
Courtney Mattison
Tamara Murphy
Leslie Plato Smith
Liza Riddle
John Roloff
Richard Shaw
Kala Stein
Dharma Strasser MacColl
Joan Takayama-Ogawa
Larisa Usich
Shiyuan Xu
Material Matters: Clay Sustains Artist Panel Discussion Hosted on Wednesday, March 4 on Zoom
Watch a recording of the panel discussion.
Ashwini Bhat: Being, Longing…
September 13, 2025-August 23, 2026
Photo Credits: Photo Credits: Ashwini Bhat: Being, Longing..., 2025, installation view. Image courtesy of the Artist and Shoshana Wayne Gallery. Photo by John Janca.
Bay Area artist Ashwini Bhat’s site-specific installation ties together and is concurrent to the three exhibitions forming Centering: Clay and Community at the Palo Alto Art Center, addressing themes of identity, sustainability, and highlighting performance and installation.
Being, Longing… will include three works by Bhat: a performance video with sound projected on unfired clay, a limited-edition neon installation, and a large-scale glazed ceramic mandala created collectively by public participation during the 2025 Montalvo Art Center Summer Festival Montalvo Funk.
After thirty-five years in Southern India, multidisciplinary artist Ashwini Bhat now lives and works in the foothills of Sonoma Mountain, California. Coming from a background in literature and classical Indian dance, Bhat works in sculpture, installation, ceramics, video, text, and performance developing a unique visual language to explore the intersections between body and nature, self and other.
Ashwini Bhat: Being, Longing… is supported by the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation through a gift from SACHI, Society for Art & Cultural Heritage of India in celebration of its 25th anniversary (1997-2022).
Centering: Clay and Community at the Palo Alto Art Center will engage and convene the community in the art of ceramics through a series of art exhibitions, public programs, school tours, and partnerships.