2025 Programs

Featured in When the World is Beautifully Strange Kristiana Chan 莊 禮 恩 (b. 1993)the stone in your mouth (en/snarled), 2024Hand-built stoneware, crocheted chain, foraged barnacle, acrylic tubingCourtesy of the artistPhoto by Paul Gallo The intertidal zone is a landscape marked by constant and extreme change, whose inhabitants have uniquely adapted to not only withstand, but thrive in such conditions. Chan considers histories of oceanic extraction and our relationship to living resources, believing that the ocean’s intertidal organisms are oracles which guide our understanding of what longevity, survival, and endurance can look like.   What wisdom, memories, and technologies are held within…

Featured in When the World is Beautifully Strange Ashwini Bhat (b. 1980)AGNIJA, Born of Fire, 2023Glazed ceramic84 x 36 x 16 in.Collection of Starworks, NCPhoto by Chris Gallaway Inspired by the cathedral-like termite mounds frequently seen throughout Southern India, artist Ashwini Bhat was invited to create this hybrid, biomorphic sculpture using local wild clay as a part of Firefest 2023 at Starworks, in North Carolina.  To this day in Southern India, the termite mounds, which have chimney-like structures resembling ancient pottery kilns, are worshipped as the dwellings of the serpent deities. In this process, the termite mounds themselves become the…