Ashley Spencer

Next Wednesday, March 11th 6-8pm, we will celebrate the opening of GENERATIONS OF TOUCH at the CCA PLAySPACE gallery! Artists @_cathyclu_ @mfporges @ashleysartdump @lauren_h.art @jacyvernonart Maryam Yousif @alexehma and myself @meganmarchstudio will be presenting ceramic sculpture celebrating mentorship and a legacy in clay. Exhibition poster art for each individual artist, using risograph and letterpress, by @meganmarchstudio . Generations of Touch, curated by Megan March and Alex Ehmer, features artists Lauren Herrala, Cathy Lu, Maria Porges, Ashley Spencer, Jacy Vernon, and Maryam Yousif, who are all currently connected to California College of the Arts ceramics program. Focusing on lineage, this exhibition connects each artist to the larger Bay Area arts ecosystem through teaching, mentorship, and shared material knowledge. Some have been teachers, mentors, students, peers, inspirations of others in this exhibition, showing how knowledge is transmitted through formal and informal settings, especially through shared studio spaces and classrooms. Each artist understands that clay is a material that holds memory; carrying those imprinted gestures beyond written and oral history. Generations of Touch positions making as both a personal, collective, and historical act; shaped by inheritance and sustained through community.

The year of the bead Rituals are the navigational tools we use to traverse these lives. A peaceful meditation transformed into my entire life in 2025. Grateful to these precious individual objects that came together to form a community of color and movement.

I turned 25 and there is nothing I could wish for because I have it all! Give it up for the greatest friends in the world everybody 🥳 @juan_and_only404 thank you for the beautiful photos 🫶🏽

Sorry I had to unplug and charge ☀️🪴

“Let my hair tickle my feet” 2025 Braiding hair, hair gel, ceramic beads, wire, wind, sticks Photos curtesy @lea_brun0

Please welcome Ashley Spencer (@ashleysartdump ), who is exhibiting in our Zephyr Coating show curated by @untitled___collective . BIO Spencer received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Eastern Illinois University in 2023 and completed her Master of Fine Arts at California College of the Arts in 2025. Her work has been exhibited extensively, with recent shows at the ICA SF, SOMArts Cultural Center, Novack Gallery, and Playspace Gallery, among others. In 2025, she participated in the MFA Graduate Exhibition and received an Honorable Mention Thesis Award. She has been recognized with numerous accolades, including the Barclay Simpson Award, the Murphy Cadogan Award, and multiple scholarships throughout her academic career. Spencer lives and works in San Francisco, CA. STATEMENT Ashley Spencer (San Francisco, CA) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work reflects her worldly perspective as a mixed-race queer creator. With ten years of experience in ceramics, sculpture, and mixed media, her art delves into complex themes like the Black experience, hauntology, and women’s bodily autonomy. She addresses generational grief through her work, which often uses a blend of various mediums to explore time and material history. Ashley initiates thinking about how the work is as much about the process as the final product, inviting viewers to engage with both contemporary issues and historical narratives. The materials she uses become tools for storytelling, rituals, and manifestations of folklore, weaving narratives that speak of heritage, beliefs, and the unseen. The act of arranging and rearranging such materials can also be seen as a dialogue with spirits and tales that hover just at the edge of perception. Every twist of a twig or coil of hair echoes with the voices of ancestors, myths, and legends, enriching the present with their whispers. Through them, she engages with a legacy that is living and breathing, inviting us to explore the enchanted and the unknown. PIECES I Will Catch You 2025 Chair, Ceramic Beads, Braiding Hair, Braiding Gel, Wire, Spells, Sticks Let My Hair Tickle My Feet 2025 Ceramic Beads, Braiding Hair, Braiding Gel, Wire, Sticks, and Wind

“I will catch you!” - a self portrait (2025) Chair, Table, Braiding hair, Gel, Mousse, Magic, Ceramic Feet, Ceramic Beads, Sticks, Wire Photos Curtesy: @lea_brun0

I’m so late, but what’s new! I graduated, but not without all the help from my friends and family. I love all of you and I would be nothing and nowhere without you. Grad school taught me so much, but my biggest lesson was there is no success without collaboration and community. Thank you CCA!

So excited to see you at the CCA MFA Thesis Show! May 1st at 5:30-7:30 Wattis / Novack Galleries

Collecting and collections. An accumulation of art and knowledge. Please join us at the MFA Thesis Show on May 1st to see the work of many hands🖤🖤

What an honor it is to be a part of such a lineage of fellow awardees and to stand next to my dear friends to receive the Barclay Simpson Award! Thank you to everyone who came out to support and celebrate!

heavy as a black feather, light as a white stone Furniture, Hair, Braiding Gel, Mousse, Ceramic, Ancient Enchantments/Magic, Wire, Sticks 10’ x 10’ x 15’ Photo courtesy of Claire S. Burke for SOMArts, 2024.