The Crocker is pleased to announce the 2024 John S. Knudsen Prize winner, multidisciplinary artist Ashwini Bhat. Bhat’s work is comprised of sculptures, installations, videos,and text, and is informed by her interest in landscape, natural history, and the human body. Bhat, who spent most of her life in Southern India studying classical Indian dance and literature, currently lives and works in the foothills of Sonoma Mountain in California.
Whether she’s engrossed in her studio or walking through the diverse terrain of Northern California, Bhat seeks connections between the natural world—its ever-changing fields, forests, mountains, and fault lines—and her own lived experiences. Bhat often incorporates local materials, including clay gathered from sites along the San Andres Fault. “As my work came to be focused in this precarious climate on California’s ecology, my studio practice was given new purpose,” explains Bhat. “Ever since I immigrated to the US and grew roots here in California eight years ago, I’ve fallen in love with this place, with its vibrant, diverse, and intellectually stimulating communities and landscapes.” Just as references to the landscape permeate Bhat’s sculptures through materials, allusions to the human form are also present through tender surface impressions made by the artist’s own hands and body. As part of her engagement with the land and community, Bhat became a certified naturalist at the Fairfield Osborne Preserve, a research site for Sonoma State University’s Center for Environmental Inquiry.
As the Knudsen Prize recipient, Bhat receives $25,000 that can be used to work in the studio, travel, purchase materials, and pursue other creative endeavors. “The incredible support that comes with this prestigious John S. Knudsen prize will help me to continue my work and dream ambitious projects as a studio artist,” shares Bhat. “I’m grateful to the core to be seen and recognized as a California artist.”
The John S. Knudsen Prize was established in 2012 through a gift from the estate of art collector John S. Knudsen to support an emerging or mid-career California artist while also funding programs, exhibitions, acquisitions, and other endeavors related to the artist’s work at the Museum. Awarded by a committee of review, the prize is open to all artists in California who have not yet had a solo exhibition at a major art museum. Previous recipients include Cyrus Tilton(2017), Mark Dean Veca (2018), Jamie Okuma (2019), Alex Anderson (2021), Gina M. Contreras (2022), and Spencer Keeton Cunningham (2023).