Ashwini Bhat is an artist, based in Northern California. She is known for her sculptures.

Biography and work

Born in Puttur, Karnataka, India Ashwini Bhat earned a master's degree in literature from

Bangalore University Bangalore University (BU) is a public state university located in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The university is a part of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and affiliated by Univers ...

. She studied classical dance ( Bharata Natyam) for thirteen years and traveled internationally as a professional dancer in the

Padmini Chettur Padmini Chettur (born 1970) is an Indian contemporary dancer, trained by dancer-choreographer Chandralekha. She runs her own dance company based in Chennai, India, "Padmini Chettur Dance Company". Early life and education Padmini Chettur was ...

Dance Company before beginning a career as a visual artist. Bhat studied ceramics with Ray Meeker at Golden Bridge Pottery Pondicherry where she later worked as an artist-in-residence before building her studio and woodfiring kiln near Auroville, Pondicherry, India. Since 2015, she has lived in the USA. Bhat lives in Northern California with poet, writer Forrest Gander.

Style and critical responses

Ashwini Bhat makes sculptural forms, some intimate scale and some larger than human scale. She has collaborated with other artists and writers, including Sharbani Das Gupta, Debra Smith, and Forrest Gander. In addition to gallery shows in India, her work has been exhibited in the USA, in Australia and in China and featured in major art publications such as Lana Turner: A Journal of Poetry & Opinion (USA, The Logbook (Ireland), New Ceramics (Germany), Ceramic Art and Perception (Australia/USA), Marg Publications (India), Ceramics Ireland (Ireland), Ceramics Monthly (USA), Crafts Arts International (Australia), Info Ceramica (Spain), Art India (India), and Art New England (USA) Stephen S. Bush, professor of religious studies and philosophy at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, writes in his essay ‘Philosophical Perspectives on Emerson and Ashwini Bhat’ , “The terrestrial themes of her sculptures, in combination with their humanistic sensibility, emphasize the fundamental embeddedness of humans in their geologic environs and the continuities between humanity and nature. By grounding human concerns so thoroughly in the dirt—used here as a term of approbation—Bhat’s sculptures speak of thoroughly immanent value.”

Awards

The Howard Foundation
Fellowship for Sculpture (2013–14) * Shortlisted for Emerging Artist Award (2013–14), ICMEA 2013, Fuping, China

Collections and exhibitions

* "50 Women: A Celebration of Women's Contributions to Ceramics" at the American Jazz Museum, Kansas City, USA, 2016 * “Standing Wave Exhibition,�
The Studios Inc
National Council for Education in Ceramic Arts ( NCECA
2016 Conference
Kansas City, USA * Indian Museum at the

FLICAM FuLe International Ceramic Art Museum (abbreviated FLICAM) is situated outside Xi'an in Shaanxi province, China. The museum consists of pavilions dedicated to individual countries or regions, exhibiting work by ceramic artists from each country cr ...

(FuLe International Ceramic Art Museums), Fuping, China * Sculpture Garden, Grand Hyatt, Chennai, India * Collection of Dr Raj and Asha Kubba, New Delhi, India * "Earth Took of Earth," solo show, Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island, USA * "Terra Firma," a two-person show with Sharbani Das Gupta
AS220 Gallery
Providence, RI, USA
United Art Fair
New Delhi, India * "Allegory of Fire,
Clayspace Co-op
Asheville, North Carolina, USA

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhat, Ashwini Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Indian women artists 21st-century Indian women artists Indian ceramists Indian women sculptors Indian women ceramists Artists from Karnataka 20th-century Indian sculptors People from Dakshina Kannada district Women artists from Karnataka 21st-century American ceramists American women ceramists American women sculptors Modern sculptors Sculptors from California 21st-century American women