Images: Cha-Rie Tang: 48 Years of Artistic Innovation in Pasadena exhibition by Marlyn Woo/Joanne Wilborn.
Cha-Rie Tang, the ceramic tile artist and architect whose handcrafted work adorns the entryway of the Pasadena Museum of History, will lead a curator’s tour of her own retrospective exhibition there on Saturday, March 28, at 11 a.m.
The exhibition, “Cha-Rie Tang: 48 Years of Artistic Innovation in Pasadena,” traces her path from MIT-trained architect to the founder of Pasadena Craftsman Tile, the studio she started in 2000 after a friend’s discovery of original Ernest Batchelder plaster tile molds buried in a backyard changed the course of her career. “A friend stumbled across some original Ernest Batchelder plaster tile molds buried in his backyard,” Tang said, according to the museum’s exhibition page. “I decided to concentrate on ceramic tiles and glass — ‘permanent’ materials. I flourished.”
The tour offers something a standard museum visit does not: the artist herself narrating her own creative journey through six thematic sections — Nature and Nurture, Coming to Pasadena, Technology New and Old, Running a Tile Business, Fun with Glass Art, and Putting It All Together & Beyond. Featured works include high-relief ceramic tiles, fused glass pieces, and framed designs and sketches, according to the museum.
Tang has lived and worked in Pasadena since 1977, when she moved to the city after earning a Master of Architecture from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She holds a B.S. from MIT. Her public art commissions are embedded in the daily landscape of the region — the illustrated panels on Pasadena’s A.R.T. Bus, the tile installation at the Monrovia Gold Line Metro station titled “River of Time,” and works at the Los Angeles County Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration and the City of Los Angeles Public Library at Exposition Park, according to the museum’s exhibition page.
Tang’s connection to Batchelder — the early 20th-century tile maker who was a central figure in the Arts and Crafts movement and whose work remains a defining element of Pasadena’s Craftsman architectural heritage — runs through the exhibition. Her Batchelder-inspired commemorative tiles at the museum’s entrance, created during her first Artist in Residence appointment in 2016, make the retrospective a kind of homecoming, according to the museum. Tang has returned to the residency role in 2026.
“I chose MIT so I could do something useful,” Tang said, according to the MIT alumni magazine. “After all sorts of twists and turns, I achieved my ambition of improving the world through my designs. So many things happened for me because I was in Pasadena.”
Jeannette O’Malley, executive director of the Pasadena Museum of History, said Tang’s return as Artist in Residence will include new commemorative tiles for the museum’s History Center entry steps. “A new series of commemorative tiles will be completed and installed later in the year,” O’Malley said, according to Local News Pasadena.
The exhibition, which opened October 4, 2025, has been extended through May 24, 2026. Two additional curator’s tours are scheduled for April 25 and May 16. Space is limited, and advance reservations are required through Eventbrite. The museum is located at 470 W. Walnut St. Exhibition galleries are open Thursday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. General admission is $9; $7 for seniors; free for members, students, and visitors under 18, according to Visit Pasadena. Complimentary parking is available in the lot off Walnut Street. Information: (626) 577-1660 or pasadenahistory.org.
“When inspiration sparks, I branch out and experiment with new materials and processes,” Tang said, according to the museum’s exhibition page. The tour on March 28 offers Pasadena residents a chance to hear that story firsthand — from the artist who has spent nearly five decades shaping it.
CURATOR’S TOUR: CHA-RIE TANG — 48 YEARS OF INNOVATION Date & Time: Saturday, March 28, 2026 (see event page for time). Venue: Pasadena Museum of History, 470 W. Walnut St., Pasadena, CA 91103. Phone Number: (626) 577-1660. Website: https://pasadenahistory.org/exhibitions/cha-rie-tang-in-pasadena/
