Of the Earth

The center has collected highly imaginative and wide-ranging ceramic pieces to follow that theme of how we relate to the environment. A few are recognizable forms: a large bowl, a teacup and matching saucer, some serving platters. But don’t expect a tea party. You might find the Mad Hatter instead, as their shapes and subjects all contain a bit of dystopian messaging.

“California Wildfires” is a large serving plate in gloss black. What it serves is a ring of fires in orange-red glazing, as glaring an image as flames on a hot rod and a disturbing reference to the Palos Verdes and Northern California conflagrations.  

A couple of the other plates have varied hors d’oeuvres, if your idea of a canape includes a coral snake. Even the teacup morphs into something unexpected.

There are chains and amoebic blobs, short towers like chess pieces, if you use your imagination.

Clearly the artisans used theirs.

By far some of the most striking were anthropomorphic.

A human torso juts out of the wall in charcoal gray with odd black protuberances. “Agents of Erosion: Drift” depicts how we might evolve with the environment if we allow the world to change too markedly. Across from that two human heads and a hand reach out to us.

That has to be the message here: Earthen figures reaching for our help in appreciating Mother Nature before we risk parting with her.

One large dark wall has a twofer. “Resilience is Not Infinite/Stacked Threshold” at first appears to be a human face with orange eyeglasses. But below it is a pyramid of purple sea urchins piling up from the floor, reminding us what happens when an unnatural predator species becomes invasive.

“Tracing Time” is three squares, blue, white and black, with deeply cracked surfaces. This triptych depicts a lake bed dried up so that it becomes, once again, cracked clay.

More tame appearing are two interlocking aqua rectangles with white shells. A peaceful seafloor scene until you read the title, “Bleached Coral Reef,” and you realize it shows the potential demise of the overheating mother oceans.

My favorite was “Life Whispers. Listen Carefully.” This one has five pillars shaped and colored like aspen trunks, topped by variously hued human heads, below it a carpet of leaves. Behind it is a large web depicting the interconnected world of mycelium — fungi. It’s a poignant lovely reminder of how the chemistry of life wires the natural world together. Fungi and trees both communicate, according to research, and are interdependent in ways we are too fast-moving but too slow-witted to fully understand. It’s a beautiful and meaningful installation. It speaks of hope.

In such a small gallery, there is more to see and contemplate. If only we pay attention to the world and how we depend on it.

“Art saves lives,” Faletti said. “It saved mine.”

Perhaps thinking more constructively about how we live might save all of ours.

Yes, clay will sustain, just as the world we take for granted sustains us — if we don’t mess it up.

Don’t mess up your chance to see this show.

You Can Create Too: Palo Alto Art Center has creative classes year-round for all ages in several media. Spring 2026 Family Day is March 22 with art-making activities and a performance organized by Mosaic America.

Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto, (650) 329-2366, bit.ly/4oqLVdw.

Bart Charlow, author, artist and consultant blends over 45 years of painting and photography with narrative storytelling. Explore the intersection of observation and expression through his insights on the local art scene, find his books at bartcharlow.com and his art at bartsart.weebly.com.