Fractured Foundations: 250 Years of American History is on view at the American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA
June 27 – November 29, 2026
Fractured Foundations: 250 Years of American History is on view June 27–November 29, 2026 at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, CA.
AMOCA’s exhibition Fractured Foundations coincides with the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. For this occasion, AMOCA invited ceramic artists to reconsider a historical event through the lens of contemporary art, challenging historical narratives and offering a more accurate perspective on our country.
The work selected for this exhibition demonstrates resilience, injustice, triumph, and the impact of federal, state, and/or local policies, while also reflecting upon or referencing an event in US history. Artists included are: Natalia Arbaelez, Lisa Cecere, Nuala Creed, Connor Czora, Chotsani Elaine Dean, Reniel Del Rosario, Morel Doucet, Marianna Haniger, Irvin Huang, Salvador Jiménez-Flores, Akinsanya Kambon, Cathy Lu, Roberto Lugo, Michele Martinez, Bianca MacPherson, Kristy Moreno, Mercy Neumark, Janet Neuwalder, Peter Olson, Alexis Oltmer-Bergmann, Vick Quezada, Jenny Rosen, Jos Sances, Nathan Stanfield, Kukuli Velarde, and Patti Warashina.
Remembering historical events is a form of resistance. Several artists choose to highlight important figures who refused erasure–the freedom fighters, poets, organizers, and community builders whose stories have been systematically marginalized. Others document struggles unfolding now: the rollback of reproductive rights, the targeting of LGBTQ+ people, the dismantling of equity programs, the expansion of immigration enforcement, and the erosion of constitutional norms.
As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, this exhibition asks what it means to celebrate a nation whose history is inseparable from contradiction. Art may not pass legislation or overturn court decisions, but it does make injustices visible. By naming what has been suppressed, honoring those who have resisted, and placing present-day threats within their historical context, these works call on viewers to move from witness to participant by engaging, advocating, and holding American democracy to account for all its people.
Executive Director Beth Ann Gerstein explains, “This exhibition refuses to let the past stay past. It addresses the distance between America’s founding promises and its lived realities, a gap that is not incidental but structural, not historical but ongoing. The work in this exhibition explores government actions across centuries and communities. The incidents explored here are not isolated episodes; they are a pattern of who is counted, who is protected, and who is expendable.”
Contact
info@amoca.org
909-865-3146
American Museum of Ceramic Art
399 N Garey Ave
Pomona, CA 91767
United States
Captions
- Fractured Foundations: 250 Years of American History exhibition banner
- Natalia Arbaelez, Rabado Ruru, 2026
- Alexis Oltmer-Bergmann, A Federal Portrait of the Occurrence of Superfund Sites in the USA (2024), 2024
- Exhibition view with a guest looking at Kristy Moreno’s Liberación, 2026.
- Vick Quezada, White Paint y Barro Quemado, 2026
- Exhibition view with Patti Warashina’s Tule Lake Retreat Redux in the foreground, and Chotsani Elaine Dean’s work in the background.
- Salvador Jiménez-Flores, A Hand Gesture to Systemic Racism: Al que le quede el saco que se lo ponga, 2021.
- Patti Warashina, Tule Lake Retreat Redux, 2026
- Morel Doucet, Still Here: A Twenty-One Gun Salute, 2026.
- Connor Czora, Pride Service, 2025
- Lisa Cecera, Tattered Democracy Flag Series, 2026 — individual work titled Morning Dew, January 7, 2021
- Marianna Haniger, Crumber, 2024.
- Roberto Lugo, Untitled (Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass), 2024.
- Jos Sances, Satchem Metacom, 2025.
- Cathy Lu, Red-White-Blue, 2019.
- Irvin Huang, You Have to Discard (detail), 2026.
- Michele Martinez, Tail(s) of Tears, 2026.
- Vick Quezada, White Paint y Barro Quemado (detail), 2026.
- Chotsani Elaine Dean, Timeline Strip Pieced Quilt: for Phillis Wheatley & Scipio Morehead…, 2025
