A graduate of the Santa Monica College of Design, Art and Architecture and the San Francisco Art Institute, Tara has been an artist in residence at Anderson Ranch Center for the Arts, Penland School of Crafts, the Santa Fe Art Institute and received a fellowship to be in residence at the Vermont Studio Center.
To grapple with the sixth mass extinction and climate breakdown, she completed a Permaculture Design Course in 2018, Fritjof Capra’s Systems Thinking course in 2019 and became part of the Earth Regenerators Study Group in 2020
Tara Daly is a Californian sculptor working in ceramics who makes paintings and textiles in material driven processes that explore power, collapse and connection. She has exhibited at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Richmond Arts Center, Contemporary Craft Center among other non-profit art centers and galleries nationally.
A graduate of the Santa Monica College of Design, Art and Architecture and the San Francisco Art Institute, Tara has been an artist in residence at Anderson Ranch Center for the Arts, Penland School of Crafts, the Santa Fe Art Institute and received a fellowship to be in residence at the Vermont Studio Center.
To grapple with the sixth mass extinction and climate breakdown, she completed a Permaculture Design Course in 2018, Fritjof Capra’s Systems Thinking course in 2019 and became part of the Earth Regenerators Study Group in 2020
Tara Daly is a Californian sculptor working in ceramics who makes paintings and textiles in material driven processes that explore power, collapse and connection. She has exhibited at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Richmond Arts Center, Contemporary Craft Center among other non-profit art centers and galleries nationally.
applied contemporary
craft gallery
@applied_contemporary
473 25th St # D, Oakland, CA 94612
Mary Catherine (MC) and Ian Bassett are a husband and wife partnership and owners of Applied Contemporary. Ian and MC met at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for American Crafts while working toward their Masters in Fine Arts degrees in Ceramics and Glass. After completing their MFA, the couple moved across the country to settle in Oakland California.
Ian and MC have been involved in many aspects of the local Bay Area arts community. Ian is an Adjunct Professor at Los Medanos College, teaching Ceramics, Art History, and 3D Design while also teaching at Clay by the Bay in San Francisco. Mary Catherine is Full-Time Faculty at Laney College teaching Ceramics, Art, and Art History. As practicing artists and educators, they have both exhibited extensively throughout the Bay Area and nationally.
The two have always hoped to start a business together that would provide an opportunity for local and national artists. This dream has evolved over the years from opening a residency program to running a gallery. Their dream has become a reality with great thanks and appreciation to supportive members of their community.
The objective in opening Applied Contemporary is to offer opportunities to their local arts community, exhibit exceptional works focused in craft media and practices, and elevate the perception of “Craft” in the larger context of “Art”.