How can exhibition design support emotional connection, healing, and shared experience? Join artist Dave Eassa and the curatorial team at the California Center for the Arts Museum for an intimate preview of Head Above the Clouds, opening to the public in early October.

This special program provides a behind-the-scenes look at the human-centered design strategies that shape the exhibition, from seating sculptures to participatory elements that invite visitors to become co-authors. The conversation will explore how layout, color, scale, and materials were intentionally used to evoke tenderness, grief, joy, and connection.

The preview will conclude with a Q&A.

Dave Eassa (b. 1991, Ellicott City, MD) is a visual artist, curator, and cultural organizer based in San Diego, CA. Working across painting, sculpture, and socially engaged practice, his work explores personal and collective memory, love, and the possibilities of community. He has exhibited nationally and internationally, with solo exhibitions at Cody Gallery (VA), The Shed Space (MD), and Sistered (ME), and group exhibitions at Marianne Boesky Gallery (NY), LVL3 (Chicago), and Signal (NY). Eassa’s work has been featured in New American Paintings, The Washington Post, and BmoreArt, and is held in collections including the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation. A 2015 Open Society Institute Fellow, Eassa founded Free Space, a pioneering arts program in Maryland’s prison system. He has held senior roles at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where he led initiatives such as the BMA Lexington Market satellite and co-curated Histories Collide: Jackie Milad x Fred Wilson x Nekisha Durrett. A Salzburg Global Fellow and recipient of numerous public art and artist awards, Eassa continues to build projects that merge aesthetics with equity, and community with care.