Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences
Hands-on science, Avampato art galleries, immersive water exhibits, a planetarium, and performance halls invite different kinds of attention.
Artwork inspired by Grace Martin Taylor
The Clay Center is most rewarding as a study in contrasting ways of learning. In the Avampato galleries, sustained looking reveals how artworks build meaning through detail and composition; in the discovery museum, water, energy, sound, and engineering become intelligible through direct manipulation. Moving between them makes observation itself part of the subject.
Because planetarium shows and performances begin at fixed times, choose one as the visit’s anchor and let the galleries set the remaining pace. Give art and science separate attention rather than rushing back and forth: linger quietly with one gallery, then test variables deliberately in a single science zone. Admission does not automatically carry across every program, so confirm what the chosen ticket includes.
- Museum
- Avampato + discovery galleries
- Screen
- Caperton Planetarium
- Venue
- Maier performance hall
Quick guide
- First choice
- Planetarium or performance schedule.
- Then divide
- One science zone and one art gallery.
Explore further
- Choose the anchor
- Book a planetarium show or performance first.
- Separate tempos
- Give art galleries quiet time away from discovery exhibits.
- Test variables
- Change one condition at a time in experiments.
- Check event access
- Concert setup can alter entrances and parking.
Good to know
A performance ticket does not automatically include museum admission, and museum entry does not open every planetarium event.