After thirty-five years in Southern India, transdisciplinary artist, Ashwini Bhat now lives and works in the foothills of Sonoma Mountain, California, with her husband, writer Forrest Gander. Coming from a background in literature and classical Indian dance, Bhat uses sculptures, installations, video, and text, to develop a unique visual language exploring the intersections between body and nature, self and other. Her practice draws from her rural agrarian community upbringing. Her work is influenced by syncretic shrines, rituals, & non-Western metaphysical concepts of empathy for the non-human. Bhat’s work, in part, is an act of (re)mapping consciousness, contributing to a spiritual or psychological archive, with an emphasis on the transformative aspects of place.
Bhat is a 2023 United States Artists fellow. She has also received the Howard Foundation Award for Sculpture, the McKnight Foundation Residency Fellowship, and the Julia Terr Fellowship. Her work is exhibited nationally & internationally and can be seen in collections at the Newport Art Museum, Brown University’s Watson Institute, New Bedford Historical Society (USA); Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park (Japan); FuLe International Ceramic Art Museum (China); Daugavpils Mark Rothko Centre (Latvia); and in many private collections. Her sculpture also has been widely reviewed and featured in Art and Cake, Los Angeles Review of Books, Bay Nature, PinUp Magazine, New City Mag, American Craft Council, Alta Journal, Brooklyn Rail, Lana Turner: a Journal of Poetry and Opinion, Riot Material, Ceramic Art and Perception, Ceramics Ireland, New Ceramics, Caliban, Crafts Arts International, The Studio Potter, Logbook, and Ceramics Monthly.
In 2023, Bhat became a certified Naturalist at the Fairfield Osborne Preserve, a research site for Sonoma State University’s Center for Environmental Inquiry. She is represented by Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, USA, and Project 88, Mumbai, India.
Ashwini Bhat (1980, India)
Lives and works in Penngrove, California
SELECTED AWARDS
2023 United States Artists Fellow
2022 Julia Terr Fellow
2021 McKnight Artist Residency Fellow
2013 Howard Foundation Fellow
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
”Her Nature,” Project 88, Mumbai, India
2023
“In Your Arms I’m Radiant,” Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2022
“Imprinted: Assembling California,” American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA), Pomona, CA, USA
2021
“What I Touch Touches Me,” Lucy Lacoste Gallery, Concord, MA, USA
2019
“Origin of Species,” Lucy Lacoste Gallery, Concord, MA, USA
2017
“Honoo-no-Mori,” Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan
2016
“New Works,” Arch Contemporary Ceramics, RI, USA
2015
“Earth Took of Earth,” Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI, USA
SELECTED PERFORMANCES & INSTALLATIONS
2023
"AGNIJA, Born of Fire," immersive installation during Fire festival at Starworks, NC, USA
2022
“Beyond All Polarities, We Are,” a collaborative immersive installation with Surabhi Saraf and Laura Hyunjhee Kim (Centre for Emotional Materiality), SFMOMA, CA, USA.
2022
“Ritual Encounters,” a collaborative installation with Forrest Gander, The Vanderhoef Studio Theatre at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts UC Davis, CA, USA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
”New Geographies,” Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA, USA
2023
“Bay Area Now 9,” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA, USA
“Mindfield,” Guerrero Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
“Piano Piano,” Et al Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
2022
“The Hand that Forms A Mirror,” Morán Morán, CA, USA
“Where She Comes From,” NEIU Fine Arts Center, IL, USA
“Breaking Ground: Women in California Clay,” American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA, USA
“Neruda 10 x 10,” Arion Press/ Grabhorn Institute, CA, USA
“Tracing Echos,” Project 88, Mumbai, India
“The Potential of Objects,” Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, CA, USA
“Fragile Earth,” Grounds for Sculpture, NJ, USA
“Belonging,” Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, USA
“Vessels,” Sized Studio, Los Angeles, CA, USA
“Clay as Soft Power: Shigaraki ware in Postwar America and Japan,” University of Michigan Museum of Art, MI, USA
India Art Fair, Project 88, India
2021
“Ten Below,” Mindy Solomon Gallery, FL, USA
“Sub-shapes,” Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
“Refuge+Resilience,” Female Design Council, New York State, USA
“Passages From India,” Northern Clay Centre, Minneapolis, MN, USA
“Possibilities Made Real,” 12.26 Gallery, Dallas, TX, USA
“Objects: USA 2020,” R & Company, New York, NY, USA
“After the Fire,” Round Weather Gallery, Oakland, CA, USA
“Forest and the Sea,” Five Car Garage, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Headlands Art Auction, Headlands Centre for the Arts, CA, USA
Frieze NY, Project 88, India
SELECTED Press
2024
Soumya Netrabile, BOMB Magazine, USA
Editor's Pick, “Shows to See During Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2024,” Art Asia Pacific, Hong Kong
Sridevi Nambiar, “11 art exhibits not to miss at Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2024,” Architectural Digest, India
2023
Kate Mothes, “Born of Earth and Fire,” Dovetail Magazine, USA
Gary Brewers, “In Your Arms I’m Radiant,” Art and Cake, Los Angeles, USA
Sarah Rose Etter, “Ashwini Bhat's Exploration of Body & Landscape,” Vibe House
2022
Matthew Harrison Tedford, Meditations from Beyond All Polarities We Are__,” SFMOMA, USA
Emily R. Pellerin, “Vessels is a Metaphor,” Pin-up Magazine, USA
Jon Spayde, “Assembling California, imprinted,” American Craft Council, USA
2021
Matthew Harrison Tedford, “Sculpting California, Post-Fire,” Bay Nature Magazine, Summer issue, USA
Paul Laster, “30 Works We Want from Salon Art + Design,” Whitehot Magazine, USA
2020
Glenn Adamson, “Objects: USA 2020,” The Monacelli Press, USA
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
University of Michigan Museum of Art, MI, USA
Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan
Fredrick Douglas National Park, New Bedford Historical Society, MA, USA
Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI, USA
Watson Institute for International Studies, Providence, RI, USA
FuLe International Ceramic Museum, Fuping, China
Sculpture Garden, Grand Hyatt, Chennai, India
EDUCATION
Masters in Literature and Translation Studies, Bangalore University, India
Training in Bharatanatyam (southern Indian classical dance) for 17 years