"Particle" by Donte K. Hayes

Ceramic | 4" x 5" x 6" | 2025

The ceramic sculpture "Particle" reflects the profound idea that even the smallest presence can create lasting impact.

Through form and surface, Hayes explores how fragments - cultural, spiritual or material - carry the power to shape memory and history. Like particles in science, these elements gather and transform, reminding us that from the smallest origins come the greatest changes.

This work was chosen by the artist specifically for the Gala, underscoring how every contribution, whether small or large, has the potential to transform the trajectory of a student and artist's life.

About the Artist:

Donte K. Hayes is an acclaimed contemporary ceramicist whose works are housed in prestigious collections including the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, D.C.), the Zuckerman Museum of Art (Kennesaw State University), the Gardner Museum (Toronto) and the Institute Museum of Ghana. A summa cum laude graduate of KSU, Hayes holds both an MA and MFA from the University of Iowa and is the 2017 recipient of the University of Iowa Arts Fellowship. In 2022, he was awarded the highly competitive Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Grant. Owning Particle offers not just a remarkable artwork, but a connection to an artist whose voice is shaping contemporary ceramic art on an international stage.