artists in residence

Bio

Sara Alfieri is a design-driven ceramic artist originally from Rochester, New York. She received her BFA from Illinois State University, completed a post-baccalaureate program at Colorado State University, and received her MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Alfieri’s work investigates the layered relationship between design, function, and accessibility through digitally designed, slip-casted ceramic vessels and architecturally-inspired sculptures. Alfieri has been featured in several publications, including the “Exposure” section of Ceramics Monthly and the Strictly Functional Pottery National Exhibition catalogues (2021, 2022, and 2024). She was awarded the “Studio Potter Merit Award” in the 2023 NCECA Student Juried Show and “Best in Show” in the 2023 Art Students League of Denver Biennial Exhibition. Alfieri has exhibited her work nationally in several recognized galleries and remains committed to supporting and engaging with gallery representation through the creation of both her ceramic vessels and sculptures.

Bio

Erin Drake was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio. She attended Bowling Green State University, in Ohio, where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio art in 2021. While in school, she worked as a studio technician as well as was a studio assistant to John Balistreri and assisted him with his large public art installation at the Kansas City Airport. Following her BFA, she pursued her MFA at the University of Missouri in the School of Visual Studies in ceramics. She graduated with her MFA in 2024. Her work predominantly focuses on the combination of stones, fruit, flower buds, and small foliage into invented environments, then hides insects or other invented animals to mimic the plants in the work. These interests have coalesced into a sculptural ceramic practice with a focus on the creation of an invented world. Currently, Erin is teaching classes at Driftwood Ceramics and works as a kiln room supervisor.

Bio

Hunter Guidoboni is a mixed media sculptor whose work investigates how men form relationships with one another to navigate their place within the gender hierarchy. Grounded in ceramics and academic figure modeling, his practice draws from personal experience to explore the construction of masculinity and its socio-political implications.

Guidoboni’s sculptures reflect a critical examination of boyhood, authority, and homosocial dynamics, often using form and material to draw out the tension between vulnerability and power. Through layered compositions and tactile surfaces, he creates space for reflection on how male identity is shaped, reinforced, and sometimes disrupted within cultural systems.

Originally from Massachusetts, Guidoboni holds a BFA in Ceramics from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and an MFA in Ceramics from Ohio University. His work has been exhibited at numerous national institutions including the Canton Museum of Art and the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts.

Bio

Led by the wonder of the lineage of craft, Zoey McLeod has long adored handmade objects. Growing up in her grandfather’s glass shop, she has been exposed to the intimate connection between maker, object, and user for her whole life. After taking her first ceramics class at Indiana University in 2020, she was able to locate this wonder into a medium of her own, leading her to pursue a BFA in December 2023. Her work is largely inspired by the ability to create objects in collaboration with natural materials to use as mementos of memory and adorn the home. Working with clay is a way for her to explore the connection to personal and human history with craft mediums.

Bio

Hannah Schelb started working in ceramics in 2009 while attending Augusta State University. After receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2012, she started a studio practice and eventually moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she worked in glaze production and taught community classes. In 2016 and 2017, Schelb attended summer residencies at Chautauqua School of Visual Arts in Chautauqua, New York, while teaching after-school programs in Cincinnati, Ohio, during the school year. She was accepted into the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2019 and graduated with a Master of Arts and Fine Arts in May 2021. She was the director of ceramics for the summers of 2020 and 2021 at a summer camp in Harrison, Maine. Schelb became a lecturer for the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2022-2024 and started showing work at several prominent galleries. Schelb was a 2024-25 resident and is returning for her second term.

Bio

Warren Van Ryzin is from Chicago and received his BFA in Ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute. He also completed a post baccalaureate residency at the University of Arkansas. The combination of contemporary internet culture with indigenous ceramic history is a direct reflection of Warren VanRyzin’s cultural identity. Being born from an indigenous mother who was adopted into a white family as a young child from a Shoshone-Paiute reservation drives his inclusion of indigenous ceramic techniques and iconography. The separation of that part of his culture and ancestry led him to the internet at a young age to research his personal lineage. That quickly became interspersed with a massive absorption of early online memes and content that continues to inspire him. He describes his work as a “practical tool to talk about issues of indigenous cultural assimilation and identity in our present time in both digital and physical spaces.” Van Ryzin was a 2024-25 resident and is returning for his second term.

Pierce Haley

November 2025 - May 2026

@piercehaleyart

BIO

Pierce Haley graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) in May 2015. He grew up in Orinda California, where he graduated from Miramonte High School in 2011. It was at Miramonte that he discovered ceramics, and it was Pierce’s father who encouraged him to pursue his passion for art. Pierce’s father is an architect, and his designs have been a major influence in Pierce’s work. His father uses modern mid-century architecture in his building designs, which has been a great inspiration to Pierce.

Primarily, Pierce’s work is designed for residential interiors with a functional aesthetic - whether it be a cup, bowl, plate, or even wall tiles. While attending KCAI, he was instructed by professors Paul Donnelly, Cary Esser, and George Timock. While studying at KCAI, he was able to really improve in his ceramics ability and fine-tune his design aesthetic. After graduating in 2015, Pierce worked with Richard Carter (Carter & Co.) in Napa, California, as a studio assistant.  After relocating back to Kansas City in 2016, Pierce worked at Crane Yard Clay as a sales associate while teaching ceramics at the Crane Yard studio. He began his tenure at Belger Crane Yard Studio as an Artist in Residence in August of 2018. He is excited to get back to what he loves - working with clay to turn his ideas into permanent objects.