Friday Night at the Art Center on June 26
2026-06-26 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Rd, Palo Alto, CA, 94303, United States
Join us for a free opening party for the summer exhibition “Thrown, Stamped, Stacked, and Poured: Ceramic Performance and Installation.”

Celebrate our summer ceramic performance and installation exhibition with free opening party featuring hands-on art activities, a cash bar, and opportunities to meet the artists. Featuring a special performance by Elana Mann at 6:30 p.m.

Connect with Clay! Monthly Artist-led Air-Dry Clay Workshops
2026-07-17 18:00 - 20:00
Connect with Clay! Monthly Artist-led Air-Dry Clay Workshops at the Palo Alto Art Center
FREE

Connect with Clay!
Monthly Artist-led Air-Dry Clay Workshops at the Palo Alto Art Center
FREE – Made Possible by Palo Alto Art Center Foundation
Every second Friday of the month (November 14, December 12, January 9, February 13, March 13, April 10, May 8, June 12, July 17*)
6- 8 p.m.
All materials provided
All ages; children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult
Space is limited, advance registration required for each individual session

Come together around clay in community at a series of creative workshops led by Centering exhibiting artists Timna Naim and Larisa Usich. Each workshop will feature different projects inspired by themes in the current exhibitions at the Art Center. Visit the exhibition after hours with an exclusive tour by the teaching artists, sketch out your ideas, and then make your own creation in clay that you can take home, and contribute to a collective artwork creation for the Center.

Throughout the series, Timna and Larisa will explore how small-scale decorations can hold powerful meaning, exploring the history of trinkets, miniatures and other forms of adornment as important tools of self-expression.

Bring your friends, and come ready to learn, explore, and create!
Timna Naim, a San Jose-based artist, explores identity, play, and community through interdisciplinary work integrating ceramic sculpture, installation, and performance that centers on tactility, storytelling, and participation, using vibrant colors, abstract forms, and interactive elements to spark the imagination. Timna Naim holds an MFA in Spatial Art and an MA in Teaching from SJSU.
Larisa Usich is a sculptor and social practice artist working in a range of media from clay, metal and textiles to found objects and natural matter. Her work emerges from the intersection of the personal and political and is influenced by immersion in the natural world. Usich earned an MFA from San José State University, a BA from Brown University, and has taught art to all ages and levels

*Note updated session date

Air-dry clay generously donated by Laguna Clay Company.

Lecture: Ashwini Bhat
2026-08-15 15:00 - 16:00
Join us for a special lecture by Ashwini Bhat to mark the closing of her exhibition “Being, Longing…” at the Palo Alto Art Center.

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).
