Ashwini Bhat

Ashwini Bhat is an artist, based in California. Bhat uses sculptures, installations, video, and text, to develop a unique visual language exploring the intersections between body and nature, self and other.^[1] Her work draws inspiration from her home in the foothills of Sonoma Mountains, California as well as her rural agrarian community upbringing in Southern India.^[2]Her work focuses on California’s ecology in this time of climate change and shifting habitats.^[3]

Ashwini Bhat
Born	Puttur, India
Awards	United States Artists Fellowship and The Howard Foundation Fellowship for Sculpture
Website	ashwinibhat.com

Biography

Born in Puttur, Karnataka, India Ashwini Bhat has a master's degree in literature from Bangalore University. She studied classical dance (Bharatanatyam) for seventeen years and traveled internationally as a professional dancer in the Padmini Chettur Dance Company before beginning a career as a visual artist. Coming from dance to sculpture, Bhat sees a close relationship between her own body and the sculptural body she creates.^[4]

Since 2015, she has lived in the USA.^[5] Bhat lives in a small unincorporated town in Northern California with poet, writer Forrest Gander.^[6]

In 2023, Bhat became a certified Naturalist at the Fairfield Osborn 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.

Awards

• USA Fellowship^[7]

• The Howard Foundation Fellowship for Sculpture (2013–14)^[8]

• McKnight Artist Residency Fellowship^[9]

Selected Exhibitions

• “Her Nature,” Project 88, Mumbai, India^[10]

• “Bay Area Now 9,” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA, USA^[11]

• “In Your Arms I’m Radiant,” Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA^[12]

• “Imprinted,” American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA, USA^[13]

• “Ritual Encounters,” a collaborative installation, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts UC Davis, CA, USA^[14]

• “Earth Took of Earth,” Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI, USA^[15]

References

1. "BOMB Magazine".
2. "ARTSY: Curator's Choice: South Asian Artists Addressing Migration through New Artifacts".
3. "Sculpting California, Post-Fire".
4. "Dovetail Mag: Born Of Earth And Fire".
5. Kumar, Sujatha Shankar (24 February 2017). "On the trail of a Gypsy Potter". The Hindu.
6. "Artforum".
7. "United States Artists Fellowships".
8. "Previous Fellows". brown.edu.
9. "Six McKnight Artists".
10. "Shows to See During Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2024".
11. "Bay Area Now 9".
12. "In Your Arms I'm Radiant: Ashwini Bhat & Forrest Gander".
13. "Assembling California: Imprinted".
14. "Problem Solving: How to Respond to the World in a Time of Crisis".
15. "Ashwini Bhat: Earth Took of Earth".

External links

• Official Website