Craft Contemporary presents “tierra”, the fourth Clay Biennial, on view May 31–Oct 25, 2026. Featuring 14 artists, the exhibition expands beyond clay to explore land, ancestry, displacement, and cultural memory through earth-based practices.
Craft Contemporary presents “tierra”, the fourth installment of its Clay Biennial. On view May 31 – October 25, 2026, tierra reconsiders the biennial’s scope by expanding its focus beyond ceramic and clay as a singular medium to encompass broader practices grounded in land and earth. The fourteen featured artists work with earth-based materials as something more than physical substances, treating them as carriers of history shaped by the people who have worked, lived on, and been displaced from the land. “tierra” asks what it means to truly know a place, and how that knowledge gets passed down through the things we make with our hands. tierra is organized by lead curator Andres Payan Estrada, with a curatorial committee formed by Frida Cano, Joel Garcia, Mercedes Dorame, and Cannupa Hanska Luger.
Exhibiting artists: Jackie Amézquita, Natalia Arbelaez, Syd Carpenter, Teresa Castro, Armando Guadalupe Cortés, rafa esparza, Miguel Fernández de Castro, Adebunmi Gbadebo, Karla García, Christine Howard Sandoval, Joanna Keane Lopez, Ruben Olguin, Iman Person, Jeri Redcorn
An accompanying catalog, produced for the exhibition, includes contributions by Tania Candiani, Megan Dorame, Andrea Everett, Sky Hopinka, Dylan McLaughlin, TK Smith
tierra is created in collaboration with the Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts. @el.rubincenter
This exhibition is supported, in part, by the Henry Luce Foundation, The Pasadena Art Alliance, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture, Alan Zafran, First Citizens Bank, and The Julius Bernard Kester Trust.
