Ashwini Bhat

{{Infobox artist

| image = CERAMIC ART-4 DONE BY ASHWINI BHAT.jpg

| image_size = 250px

| name = Ashwini Bhat

| birth_place = Puttur, India

| awards = United States Artists Fellowship and The Howard Foundation Fellowship for Sculpture

| website = {{URL|https://ashwinibhat.com/}}

}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://bombmagazine.org/articles/2024/02/14/ashwini-bhat-by-soumya-netrabile/ | title=BOMB Magazine}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-curators-choice-south-asian-artists-addressing-migration-new-artifacts | title=ARTSY: Curator's Choice: South Asian Artists Addressing Migration through New Artifacts| date=29 May 2023}} Her work focuses on California’s ecology in this time of climate change and shifting habitats.{{cite web|url=https://baynature.org/article/sculpting-california-wildfire-ashwini-bhat/| title=Sculpting California, Post-Fire}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://dovetailmag.com/2023/12/ashwini-bhat/| title=Dovetail Mag: Born Of Earth And Fire}}

Since 2015, she has lived in the USA.{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/on-the-trail-of-a-gypsy-potter/article17358438.ece|title=On the trail of a Gypsy Potter|first=Sujatha Shankar |last=Kumar|work=The Hindu |date=24 February 2017}} Bhat lives in a small unincorporated town in Northern California with poet, writer Forrest Gander.{{cite news|url=https://artguide.artforum.com/artguide/shoshana-wayne-gallery-9279/in-your-arms-i-m-radiant-ashwini-bhat-forrest-gander-212922 |title=Artforum}}

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

[https://www.unitedstatesartists.org/fellow/ashwini-bhat/ USA Fellowship]{{cite news|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/united-states-artists-fellowships-2023-1234654843/| title=United States Artists Fellowships }}
[https://www.brown.edu/initiatives/howard-foundation/ The Howard Foundation] Fellowship for Sculpture (2013–14){{cite web|url=http://www.brown.edu/initiatives/howard-foundation/previous-fellows-0|title=Previous Fellows|work=brown.edu}}
McKnight Artist Residency Fellowship{{cite news|url=https://www.mplsart.com/events/northern-clay-center-six-mcknight-artists| title=Six McKnight Artists}}

Selected Exhibitions

“Her Nature,” Project 88, Mumbai, India{{cite news|url=https://artasiapacific.com/shows/shows-to-see-during-mumbai-gallery-weekend-2024| title=Shows to See During Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2024}}
“Bay Area Now 9,” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA, USA{{cite web|url=https://ybca.org/event/bay-area-now-9/| title=Bay Area Now 9}}
“In Your Arms I’m Radiant,” Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA{{cite web|url=https://artandcakela.com/2023/01/29/in-your-arms-im-radiant-ashwini-bhat-forrest-gander/| title=In Your Arms I'm Radiant: Ashwini Bhat & Forrest Gander| date=29 January 2023}}
“Imprinted,” American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA, USA{{cite web|url=https://www.craftcouncil.org/magazine/article/assembling-california-imprinted| title=Assembling California: Imprinted}}
“Ritual Encounters,” a collaborative installation, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts UC Davis, CA, USA{{cite web|url=https://shape.ucdavis.edu/problem-solving-how-respond-world-time-crisis| title=Problem Solving: How to Respond to the World in a Time of Crisis| date=October 2020}}
“Earth Took of Earth,” Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI, USA{{cite web|url=https://newportartmuseum.org/exhibitions/ashwini-bhat/| title=Ashwini Bhat: Earth Took of Earth}}