Is it a porcupine? Or a toad? Whatever it is, your fingers can’t help wanting to reach out to touch the prickly, worty thing. But, hands off! This is a work of ceramic art, and a sign warns, “Please Do Not Touch.”

You can do all the looking you want for the next few weeks, however. Mary Alison Lucas’ homely creature will be on view through March 31 at the Bedford Gallery of the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California.

It’s part of a show, “California Clay,” where ceramic art appears to have forgotten how to look like art and chooses instead to ooze, glisten, drip and writhe.

Itchy Fingers?

If your fingers itch to fondle one of these works of art — not a problem. For $3,600, “Blot” can be all yours. Take it home. Touch it all you want. Introduce it to your pet iguana.

Same goes for Ahn Lee’s  “Miasma,” priced at $4,400. Or Erik Scollon’s “Lava Lamp,” a more affordable $500.

Or just head on out to the Lesher Center, take a look, and enjoy the wonderful stuff on view. hands behind your back.

More notes on clay at “Ceramics Envy at the Berkeley Art Center — I Want to Get My Hands Into That Earthy, Messy Squishy Clay.”  Also,  “I’ve Got a Pile of Antique Bricks in My Backyard. And They’re Headed for the Dump.”