When the World is Beautifully Strange

June 26 – November 9, 2025

Visitors can explore nine works installed on the grounds of Montalvo from 8 am to sunset. An additional eighteen works will be on view inside the Cottage Gallery, Thursday through Sunday from 11 am to 3 pm, or by appointment.

What if we are each beautiful, even if we are strange? In this moment, when the world is chaotic, when the truth is distorted, and we face policies that seek to divide and diminish us, we need art more than ever. In this exhibition, twelve contemporary artists who sculpt with clay – stretching the properties of this earth-bound medium to create fearless new forms– intentionally draw us into their worlds with humor, play, and even strange motifs. These surreal, whimsical, and colorful works of art encourage us to wonder and look at the world through a different lens.

Curators of the exhibition: Kelly Sicat, Director of the Lucas Artists Program, and Judy Koong Dennis, Assistant Curator and Program Manager.

What if we are each beautiful, even if we are strange? In this moment, when the world is chaotic, when the truth is distorted, and we face policies that seek to divide and diminish us, we need art more than ever. At its best, art moves us to wonder and look at the world through a different lens. In this exhibition, twelve contemporary artists who sculpt with clay – stretching the properties of this earth-bound medium to create fearless new forms– intentionally draw viewers into their worlds with humor, play, and even strange motifs.

The influence of the West Coast/Bay Area clay movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s known as “Funk ceramics” can be seen in the works presented in this gallery and throughout Montalvo’s grounds. What is “Funk”? It’s a term used in visual art and music but hard to pin down… you know it when you see it, with a vibe that is instantly recognizable. Curator Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy describes Funk artists as those who use strategies of humor, irony, irreverence, and cuteness as a means for expressing personal and political narratives.

Embracing the surreal, Woody de Othello, Linda Nguyen Lopez, and Cathy Lu bring inanimate objects to life to encourage us to bend our minds. Purposely distorting and warping everyday objects, Othello teasingly suggests that we may be so deeply buried in our daily concerns that we can’t truly see or hear each other. Finding beauty everywhere, Lopez imbues inanimate objects with color, texture, and a tactile presence that invites interaction and wonder. Her work suggests that different creatures can coexist in harmony. Lu’s peaches are the very embodiment of strange and unexpected. As symbols of longevity and fertility, peaches are revered in Chinese culture, but what does it mean when the flesh of this fruit is embedded with nails, or studded with seed pods and sticks of incense?

Leaning into humor and play, Timna Naim, Nathan Lynch, Niki Ford, and Wanxin Zhang construct works that invite social interaction and dialogue. Naim created five pillars of play where visitors may add their own idiosyncratic pieces to an ever-expanding sculpture. Commissioned by Montalvo as a site-specific work for this exhibition, Lynch’s ceramic drinking fountain invites strangers to drink together. The sensuous forms of his work trace back to Lynch’s teacher and mentor, Ken Price, who is known for his abstract, curvilinear sculptures. In turn, Lynch taught and inspired Othello, his former student at California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

Ford’s whimsical and colorful figure encourages dialogues about non-conforming bodies and identities, while Zhang’s joyous self-portraits draw the gaze by combining seemingly disparate Eastern and Western influences into a unified composition. Zhang claims his authentic self as a California artist by evoking the painted faces of traditional Chinese opera characters in a manner that reflects the artistic influences of his circle of friends including Robert Arneson, Nathan Oliveira, and Stephen de Staebler. With a light touch, Zhang makes the point that everyone has the right to self-definition.

Defying gravity and challenging the sculptural possibilities of clay, Annabeth Rosen and Linda Sormin each create dream-like alternate realities. Rosen’s abstract assemblages utilize newly created materials as well as remnants, broken pieces, and parts to create unified compositions that are more compelling and resilient than any individual element. At the other end of the spectrum, Sormin’s ethereal sculptures defy the earthbound properties of clay. Are we fascinated because it is fragile, or because it reminds us of our own fragility?

Transforming nature’s forms to create wonder about what lies beneath the surface,artists Ashwini Bhat, Elisa D’Arrigo, and Kristiana Chan excavate universal mysteries to generate dialogues about culture, community, climate change, and species mutuality. Referencing organisms that evolve in order to survive and even thrive in threatening environments, Chan draws on the ecosystem for answers to the question of how can we achieve the strength necessary to protect ourselves, yet remain vulnerable and open, capable of giving and receiving love?

The strangeness of these artworks at first glance charms. If we are open and curious, it can transport us to other places limited only by our imaginations. We hope you are encouraged to imagine a world in which we are each beautiful in our own individual and unique ways.

Curatorial statement by Judy Koong Dennis, Assistant Curator and Lucas Artist Program Manager.

Media resources: explore our comprehensive Press Kit.

Related Programming:

Montalvo Funk, a FREE COMMUNITY FESTIVAL celebrating the exhibition, will take place on Friday, July 18^th, from 6 pm to 10 pm, at Montalvo Arts Center. This community event will feature music, dancing, live performances and artist engagements. Food trucks and a no-host bar will be available on site.

NOTE: All parking will be at West Valley College with a free shuttle to and from Montalvo. 

To learn more about the art works click on the image.

When the World is Beautifully Strange is made possible by the George and Judy Marcus Family Foundation, the Lipman Family Foundation, and the Jo and Barry Ariko Fund for Artistic Programs. It is presented with gratitude and appreciation for the Lucas Artists Program Committee, the Montalvo Acquisition Committee, and the many partners who invest in Montalvo Arts Center.