Upcoming Exhibitions

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. 

Clay Sustains: Vessels of Change

January 17-April 5, 2026

This invitational group exhibition will feature 15-20 established ceramic 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 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.

Thrown, Stamped, Stacked, and Poured: Ceramic Installation and Performance

Summer 2026

This exhibition showcases contemporary approaches to ceramic art through performance and installation in clay by a selection of artists from the region and country. Artists’ exploration of installation has grown in recent years, but one could argue that unfired clay was used in “installation” and “performance art” as early as the Ice Age. Many contemporary clay installation and performance works employ traditional ceramic techniques, including hand building, slabs, extrusions, molds, and wheel-throwing—in innovative ways for novel and compelling results. Artists included in the exhibition leverage the uniquely malleable and expressive potential of clay to create works that address identity, history, and environment. This exhibition is guest curated by ceramic artist and educator John Toki.

These exhibitions are presented in conjunction with Handwork. Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026 is a national Semiquincentennial collaboration showcasing the importance of the handmade and celebrating the diversity of craft that defines America.