Air-Dry Clay Handbuilding Workshop with Ellie Fonseca

Find your flow through touch and texture in this calming, hands-on workshop. No experience necessary—just bring your curiosity. Materials provided.

About the Instructor

With a passion for ceramics and hands-on creativity, Ellie Fonseca has been guiding students through the art of clay in Orange County and now San Diego. Specializing in hand-building, she brings dedicated experience from teaching workshops for local community and non-profit organizations. Her approach emphasizes mindfulness, sensory awareness, and artistic exploration, ensuring that every participant feels connected to the craft and empowered to create. Through engaging demonstrations and personalized guidance, Ellie Fonseca enjoys fostering a welcoming environment where creativity flourishes and clay transforms into art.  

Join sound healer and movement practitioner Noriko Whitfield for an immersive session exploring the connection between body, mind, and art. Through guided sound meditation and gentle movement, participants will engage in practices that support emotional balance, nervous system regulation, and self-awareness.

With over 16 years of experience in sound therapy and energy healing, Whitfield creates a calming environment that invites reflection and inner stillness. This session is open to all levels. No prior experience is needed. 

Please dress comfortably and bring a yoga mat. A pillow and sweater or blanket are also recommended.

Persian Garden & Home — In Stitches with Maryam Bayat and Marty Ornish
Join artists Maryam Bayat and Marty Ornish for a hands-on workshop exploring stitching as a way to reflect on memory, place, and the idea of home. Inspired by the imagery of Persian gardens and domestic spaces, participants will experiment with simple embroidery and textile techniques to create small stitched compositions where gardens bloom in thread and each mark carries a personal story.

Registration fee: $40. All materials are included.

Shadow Drawing & Painting workshop in celebration of World Art Day

Led by Maryam Bayat and Shirin Aghdaie

This workshop encourages participants to explore creativity through observation and hands-on making. The session begins with a garden walk, during which participants observe the unique patterns created as light filters through leaves and branches. They will sketch these forms and then use natural materials to trace and develop them into their own compositions, then using color to complete their work.

Registration fee: $40 | Payable upon arrival

All materials will be provided. No prior experience necessary.

Join us as we celebrate the closing weekend of Designing the Infinite: Virtual Worldbuilding in Art & Gaming with an artist market, drop-in workshop, and a conversation with exhibiting artist Victor Castaneda H on Saturday, April 11, from 2:00 - 5:00 PM at the California Center for the Arts Museum.

Drawing from global cosmologies and contemporary digital practices, Designing the Infinite explores the perspectives of twelve artists from across the world building virtual environments through gaming technology to reimagine the cycles of creation, balance, and renewal that shape our realities.

2:30 - 3:00 PM: Join us in the gallery for a conversation with exhibiting artist Victor Castaneda H and learn more about his virtual reality installation, Eternal Ether. Audience Q&A to follow.

2:00 - 5:00 PM:  Throughout the afternoon, spend time in the galleries with an artist market, a drop-in pixel cross-stitch workshop, and a live vinyl DJ set by Andrew Nguyen. 

Don't miss your last chance to check out the exhibition, along with Kayla Mattes: Reboot > Reweave > Repeat and Lightwall, closing April 12th.

Air-Dry Clay Handbuilding Workshop with Ellie Fonseca

Find your flow through touch and texture in this calming, hands-on workshop. No experience necessary—just bring your curiosity. Materials provided.

About the Instructor

With a passion for ceramics and hands-on creativity, Ellie Fonseca has been guiding students through the art of clay in Orange County and now San Diego. Specializing in hand-building, she brings dedicated experience from teaching workshops for local community and non-profit organizations. Her approach emphasizes mindfulness, sensory awareness, and artistic exploration, ensuring that every participant feels connected to the craft and empowered to create. Through engaging demonstrations and personalized guidance, Ellie Fonseca enjoys fostering a welcoming environment where creativity flourishes and clay transforms into art.  

Join sound healer and movement practitioner Noriko Whitfield for an immersive session exploring the connection between body, mind, and art. Through guided sound meditation and gentle movement, participants will engage in practices that support emotional balance, nervous system regulation, and self-awareness.

With over 16 years of experience in sound therapy and energy healing, Whitfield creates a calming environment that invites reflection and inner stillness. This session is open to all levels. No prior experience is needed. 

Please dress comfortably and bring a yoga mat. A pillow and sweater or blanket are also recommended.

The California Center for the Arts, Escondido, in collaboration with Persian Place, presents Nowruz – Persian New Year, marking the arrival of spring and the beginning of the new year in Persian culture. Observed for more than 3,000 years across diverse regions and communities, Nowruz remains a time of renewal, reflection, and connection.

This gathering reflects a shared commitment to honoring cultural traditions that continue to hold deep meaning for our local community. While many Persian organizations across the United States have paused public programs in response to the current situation in Iran, the Center and Persian Place believe it is important to sustain spaces where heritage, artistic expression, and community can be experienced together.

The afternoon will feature live performances, a Women’s Artisan Market, arts and crafts, a kids exhibition, food, music, and free admission to the public opening of the new exhibition, Maryam Bayat: Unrolling Paradise.

This event is free and open to all.

Event sponsored by Cosmic Solar & Roofing.

Open Studio: Helena Westra

Helena Westra is a San Diego–based sculptor and interdisciplinary artist who works with clay, soil, and other natural and found materials to create objects, installations, and performances grounded in land-based practices. Drawing on her mixed ancestry and interests in craft and storytelling, her work considers belonging, ancestral connection, and the cyclical relationship between land and body. Westra’s practice approaches making as a way of holding memory and reimagining what it means to belong. In 2025, she was awarded the Windgate–Lamar Fellowship from the Center for Craft to support international research into ancestral craft traditions across Okinawa, Mallorca, Friesland, and the Philippines, which she will extend into her residency at the Museum.

During her time in the studio, Westra will be developing a project that will be presented as part of the 2025–26 In Studio Artist Residency exhibition, opening June 5, 2026.

Open Studio: Helena Westra

Thursdays | 11:00 AM — 3:00 PM

Helena Westra is a San Diego–based sculptor and interdisciplinary artist who works with clay, soil, and other natural and found materials to create objects, installations, and performances grounded in land-based practices. Drawing on her mixed ancestry and interests in craft and storytelling, her work considers belonging, ancestral connection, and the cyclical relationship between land and body. Westra’s practice approaches making as a way of holding memory and reimagining what it means to belong. In 2025, she was awarded the Windgate–Lamar Fellowship from the Center for Craft to support international research into ancestral craft traditions across Okinawa, Mallorca, Friesland, and the Philippines, which she will extend into her residency at the Museum.

Visit Westra’s studio in the Museum galleries on Thursdays between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM to learn more about her process.

During her time in the studio, Westra will be developing a project that will be presented as part of the 2025–26 In Studio Artist Residency exhibition, opening June 5, 2026.

Public Tour | No Gods, No Mods, No Masters: Cyberfeminist Perspectives in Designing the Infinite

Saturday, February 28 | 12:00 PM | Included with Admission

This short tour, designed as an introduction to Designing the Infinite: Virtual Worldbuilding in Art & Gaming, brings together cyberfeminist perspectives and historical allegory to explore how worldbuilding has long been used to critique authority, desire, and social order. Centered on Black Room and Angela’s Flood by Cassie McQuater, considered alongside Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights (1515), the tour examines how moral and cultural values are encoded within video game worlds.

Open Studio: Helena Westra

Thursdays | 11:00 AM — 3:00 PM

Helena Westra is a San Diego–based sculptor and interdisciplinary artist who works with clay, soil, and other natural and found materials to create objects, installations, and performances grounded in land-based practices. Drawing on her mixed ancestry and interests in craft and storytelling, her work considers belonging, ancestral connection, and the cyclical relationship between land and body. Westra’s practice approaches making as a way of holding memory and reimagining what it means to belong. In 2025, she was awarded the Windgate–Lamar Fellowship from the Center for Craft to support international research into ancestral craft traditions across Okinawa, Mallorca, Friesland, and the Philippines, which she will extend into her residency at the Museum.

Visit Westra’s studio in the Museum galleries on Thursdays between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM to learn more about her process.

During her time in the studio, Westra will be developing a project that will be presented as part of the 2025–26 In Studio Artist Residency exhibition, opening June 5, 2026.

Air-Dry Clay Handbuilding Workshop with Ellie Fonseca

Find your flow through touch and texture in this calming, hands-on workshop. No experience necessary—just bring your curiosity. Materials provided.

About the Instructor

With a passion for ceramics and hands-on creativity, Ellie Fonseca has been guiding students through the art of clay in Orange County and now San Diego. Specializing in hand-building, she brings dedicated experience from teaching workshops for local community and non-profit organizations. Her approach emphasizes mindfulness, sensory awareness, and artistic exploration, ensuring that every participant feels connected to the craft and empowered to create. Through engaging demonstrations and personalized guidance, Ellie Fonseca enjoys fostering a welcoming environment where creativity flourishes and clay transforms into art.  

Join sound healer and movement practitioner Noriko Whitfield for an immersive session exploring the connection between body, mind, and art. Through guided sound meditation and gentle movement, participants will engage in practices that support emotional balance, nervous system regulation, and self-awareness.

With over 16 years of experience in sound therapy and energy healing, Whitfield creates a calming environment that invites reflection and inner stillness. This session is open to all levels. No prior experience is needed. 

Please dress comfortably and bring a yoga mat. A pillow and sweater or blanket are also recommended.

Public Tour | Choose Your Player: Digital Identity in Designing the Infinite

Saturday, February 21 | 12:00 PM | Included with Admission

This short tour, designed as an introduction to Designing the Infinite: Virtual Worldbuilding in Art & Gaming, builds on the exhibition’s cosmological framework, focusing on how individuals move through and shape digital worlds. Through avatars and virtual bodies, it examines identity, agency, and how power is shaped through participation and self-representation.

Every second Saturday of the month, the Museum offers pay-what-you-can admission for all. Visitors are invited to explore the galleries and participate in free drop-in art activities, artist-led workshops, talks, art demonstrations, and/or tours throughout the galleries and the Community Art Lab.

Join us between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM for a trinket tray making experience!
Participants will learn how to design and decorate their own unique trinket trays using air-dry clay.

No prior experience needed. All materials provided.

Open Studio: Helena Westra

Thursdays | 11:00 AM — 3:00 PM

Helena Westra is a San Diego–based sculptor and interdisciplinary artist who works with clay, soil, and other natural and found materials to create objects, installations, and performances grounded in land-based practices. Drawing on her mixed ancestry and interests in craft and storytelling, her work considers belonging, ancestral connection, and the cyclical relationship between land and body. Westra’s practice approaches making as a way of holding memory and reimagining what it means to belong. In 2025, she was awarded the Windgate–Lamar Fellowship from the Center for Craft to support international research into ancestral craft traditions across Okinawa, Mallorca, Friesland, and the Philippines, which she will extend into her residency at the Museum.

Visit Westra’s studio in the Museum galleries on Thursdays between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM to learn more about her process.

During her time in the studio, Westra will be developing a project that will be presented as part of the 2025–26 In Studio Artist Residency exhibition, opening June 5, 2026.

Public Tour | Cosmologies in Practice: Knowledge Systems in Designing the Infinite

Saturday, February 7 | 12:00 PM | Included with Admission

This short tour, designed as an introduction to Designing the Infinite: Virtual Worldbuilding in Art & Gaming, situates the work on view within a long history of worldbuilding across time and space, offering visitors a shared framework for navigating the exhibition.

Open Studio: Helena Westra

Thursdays | 11:00 AM — 3:00 PM

Helena Westra is a San Diego–based sculptor and interdisciplinary artist who works with clay, soil, and other natural and found materials to create objects, installations, and performances grounded in land-based practices. Drawing on her mixed ancestry and interests in craft and storytelling, her work considers belonging, ancestral connection, and the cyclical relationship between land and body. Westra’s practice approaches making as a way of holding memory and reimagining what it means to belong. In 2025, she was awarded the Windgate–Lamar Fellowship from the Center for Craft to support international research into ancestral craft traditions across Okinawa, Mallorca, Friesland, and the Philippines, which she will extend into her residency at the Museum.

Visit Westra’s studio in the Museum galleries on Thursdays between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM to learn more about her process.

During her time in the studio, Westra will be developing a project that will be presented as part of the 2025–26 In Studio Artist Residency exhibition, opening June 5, 2026.

Open Studio: Helena Westra

Thursdays | 11:00 AM — 3:00 PM

Helena Westra is a San Diego–based sculptor and interdisciplinary artist who works with clay, soil, and other natural and found materials to create objects, installations, and performances grounded in land-based practices. Drawing on her mixed ancestry and interests in craft and storytelling, her work considers belonging, ancestral connection, and the cyclical relationship between land and body. Westra’s practice approaches making as a way of holding memory and reimagining what it means to belong. In 2025, she was awarded the Windgate–Lamar Fellowship from the Center for Craft to support international research into ancestral craft traditions across Okinawa, Mallorca, Friesland, and the Philippines, which she will extend into her residency at the Museum.

Visit Westra’s studio in the Museum galleries on Thursdays between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM to learn more about her process.

During her time in the studio, Westra will be developing a project that will be presented as part of the 2025–26 In Studio Artist Residency exhibition, opening June 5, 2026.

Open Studio: Helena Westra

Thursdays | 11:00 AM — 3:00 PM

Helena Westra is a San Diego–based sculptor and interdisciplinary artist who works with clay, soil, and other natural and found materials to create objects, installations, and performances grounded in land-based practices. Drawing on her mixed ancestry and interests in craft and storytelling, her work considers belonging, ancestral connection, and the cyclical relationship between land and body. Westra’s practice approaches making as a way of holding memory and reimagining what it means to belong. In 2025, she was awarded the Windgate–Lamar Fellowship from the Center for Craft to support international research into ancestral craft traditions across Okinawa, Mallorca, Friesland, and the Philippines, which she will extend into her residency at the Museum.

Visit Westra’s studio in the Museum galleries on Thursdays between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM to learn more about her process.

During her time in the studio, Westra will be developing a project that will be presented as part of the 2025–26 In Studio Artist Residency exhibition, opening June 5, 2026.

Air-Dry Clay Handbuilding Workshop with Ellie Fonseca

Find your flow through touch and texture in this calming, hands-on workshop. No experience necessary—just bring your curiosity. Materials provided.

About the Instructor

With a passion for ceramics and hands-on creativity, Ellie Fonseca has been guiding students through the art of clay in Orange County and now San Diego. Specializing in hand-building, she brings dedicated experience from teaching workshops for local community and non-profit organizations. Her approach emphasizes mindfulness, sensory awareness, and artistic exploration, ensuring that every participant feels connected to the craft and empowered to create. Through engaging demonstrations and personalized guidance, Ellie Fonseca enjoys fostering a welcoming environment where creativity flourishes and clay transforms into art.  

Join sound healer and movement practitioner Noriko Whitfield for an immersive session exploring the connection between body, mind, and art. Through guided sound meditation and gentle movement, participants will engage in practices that support emotional balance, nervous system regulation, and self-awareness.

With over 16 years of experience in sound therapy and energy healing, Whitfield creates a calming environment that invites reflection and inner stillness. This session is open to all levels. No prior experience is needed. 

Please dress comfortably and bring a yoga mat. A pillow and sweater or blanket are also recommended.

Join us for an opening reception for Lightwall, an interactive installation that explores perception, presence, and the evolving relationship between humans and responsive technologies.

Developed by artist Rita Sus in collaboration with technologist Zach Rattner and students from California State University, Fullerton, Lightwall integrates kinetic sculpture, custom electronics, and artificial intelligence to create an environment that responds in real time to visitors’ movement and sound. As audiences engage with the installation, shifting light patterns and rotating prisms generate continuously changing visual conditions, positioning the viewer as an active participant in the work.

The opening reception offers an opportunity to experience Lightwall firsthand and to engage with a project that reflects the Museum’s commitment to presenting contemporary art at the intersection of art, technology, and education.

This event is free and open to the public.

Join us for an after-hours exhibition celebration that brings Designing the Infinite: Virtual Worldbuilding in Art & Gaming and Kayla Mattes’s solo exhibition, Reboot > Reweave > Repeat, to life through sound, light, and play. The evening will feature live DJ sets, a bar and light bites, and immersive moments throughout the galleries.

Designing the Infinite brings together contemporary artists working across digital media, gaming, and immersive environments to examine how virtual worlds function as sites for storytelling, experimentation, and collective imagination. Presented alongside this exhibition, Kayla Mattes’s work explores the visual language of the internet through handwoven textiles that translate digital imagery into tactile form, bridging craft and contemporary digital culture.

The evening also coincides with an open studio for Artist-in-Residence Farshid Bazmandegan. Visitors are invited to visit the artist’s studio to view works in progress and learn more about an ongoing project that engages themes of memory and displacement. Bazmandegan’s residency work will continue to develop toward its presentation in the Museum’s 2025–26 Artist-in-Residence exhibition.

This event is free and open to the public.

Cover image: JODI, Untitled Street Legal (still), 2004, video. Courtesy of Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), New York.

Open Studio: Farshid Bazmandegan

Saturday, January 10, 2026 | 5:00 PM — 7:00 PM

Location: CH Visual Art Studio (In the Administration building across from the Museum)

The California Center for the Arts Museum invites the public to a culminating open studio with Farshid Bazmandegan, marking the conclusion of his 2025—26 artist residency. This open studio offers visitors an opportunity to engage with Bazmandegan’s research, materials, and work in progress, providing insight into an evolving practice shaped by memory and displacement.

During the residency, Bazmandegan has been developing a new body of work rooted in a childhood memory of a painting of a black horse that once hung in his family home in Iran. Through sculpture and digital media, he explores fantasy as a method for navigating exile and imagining return. The works on view during the open studio represent an active phase of inquiry rather than a finished presentation.

Bazmandegan will continue to develop this project over the coming year, with the completed body of work to be presented as part of the 2025–26 In Studio Artist Residency exhibition, opening June 5, 2026.

Air-Dry Clay Handbuilding Workshop with Ellie Fonseca

Find your flow through touch and texture in this calming, hands-on workshop. No experience necessary—just bring your curiosity. Materials provided.

About the Instructor

With a passion for ceramics and hands-on creativity, Ellie Fonseca has been guiding students through the art of clay in Orange County and now San Diego. Specializing in hand-building, she brings dedicated experience from teaching workshops for local community and non-profit organizations. Her approach emphasizes mindfulness, sensory awareness, and artistic exploration, ensuring that every participant feels connected to the craft and empowered to create. Through engaging demonstrations and personalized guidance, Ellie Fonseca enjoys fostering a welcoming environment where creativity flourishes and clay transforms into art.