Ceramics Artist Residency Programs

How to Apply Artists-In-Residence

Belger Crane Yard Studios continues to host national and international artists through its Residency Program. A residency provides ceramic artists the opportunity to expand their body of work or create a special project that may be outside the scope of their routine studio practice.

The residency program gives driven, self-directed artists opportunities for rigorous professional development and enhanced self-sufficiency practices. Within the studio community, resident artists engage in constructive dialogue and immerse themselves in their work. Residents foster the development of the studio’s creative environment and create outreach opportunities within the local community. Outreach opportunities include teaching classes or workshops, giving public presentations, and critiques. Through community involvement, residents create educational opportunities for the appreciation and critical understanding of ceramics, thus employing and evolving Belger Crane Yard Studios as an innovative, artistic resource.

2026-27 Ceramic Residents

Sara Alfieri

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 vesselsand 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.

www.saraalfieri.com
@sara.alfieri_

Erin Drake

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.

@erindrake_art

Zoey McLeod

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.

Matt Pekarek

Matt Pekarek is a research-based ceramic artist. A recent graduate of the University of Southern California (2026) with a BA in Art and a BA in Archaeology, Matt uses his archaeological training to consider clay as a material and medium for historical storytelling. His work uses archival and collected material to comment on labor-related United States history. As precedent for this type of work, he considers clay’s connections to memory via the ‘commemorative plate’ tradition and its historical ties to abolitionism. Navigating and breaking the lines between craft and art, Matt positions his work alongside personal and familial labor history.

Christian Roberts

Christian T. Roberts is a ceramic artist and educator whose practice investigates the intersection of structure and support through abstraction. He received his MFA in Ceramics from Kent State University, and his BFA in Studio Art with a minor in English from Appalachian State University. Exhibited nationally, Roberts creates abstract geometric sculptures to question how systems of support shape labor, identity, and interpersonal relationships while simultaneously imposing constraint and pressure to conform.

@Christian.T.Roberts

Jamie Westermeyer

Jamie Westermeyer is a figurative ceramic sculptor. She received her BFA in Ceramics from Missouri State University and her MFA in Ceramics from the School for American Crafts at Rochester Institute of Technology in 2026. Formerly Head of Studio at Clayroom in San Francisco, she brings years of experience in ceramics education, community programming, and artist support.

Her narrative-driven sculptures examine girlhood, domestic environments, and the expectations that shape how women are taught to move, soften, endure, and care for others. Using exaggeration and shifts in scale, she transforms familiar objects and figures into charged scenes that balance playfulness with tension. Through figurative ceramic sculpture, she explores how sensitivity, attentiveness, and emotional labor are learned over time, using clay to make visible the physical consequences of absorption.

Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including in New York, California, Missouri, Ireland, and China. Alongside her studio practice, Westermeyer has taught ceramics in university and community studio settings and is committed to creating accessible, curiosity-driven learning environments.

@westermeyerceramics

FOUNDATION RESIDENCY

This residency program is open to emerging artists looking to further their artistic and professional careers and gain experience in a large working studio environment. This residency is ideal for artists who thrive in a shared, communal space, and are preparing for the next step in their professional pursuits.

We accept four to six Foundation Residents per term, with two spots reserved for potters and two spots reserved for sculptors.

Please direct all questions and email all application materials to: lpowell@BELGERARTS.ORG

Applications Open: January 1st

Application Deadline: March 1st, 11:59PM CST

Term

1-year (August 1st-July 31st), plus a possible additional 1-year renewal with review (max 2 consecutive years per artist).

Qualifications:

Recently completed academic Ceramics/Clay degree: undergraduate, post-baccalaureate or graduate (or equivalent experience).
U.S. citizens and International Artists are eligible to apply

Required Application Materials:

Submission of the following items:

Completed application form
CV/Resume
Artist Statement
One-page Letter of Intent (outlining specific project goals for the residency term)
15-20 digital images saved in JPEG format at 300dpi Corresponding image list
Two Letters of Reference (sent directly from chosen recommenders)

Benefits:

Semi-private studio space with a work table, shelving, and storage
$1000 materials stipend & $500 firing stipend*
*Discounted firing rates if stipend gets used up
Mentoring in the operation of a large community studio with many moving parts
Group exhibition at the end of the residency term
Opportunities for teaching, demonstrations, and other community engagement

Responsibilities:

Contribute to the maintenance of the studio during two weekly, 6-hour monitoring shifts that could include tasks such as:
Assisting with firings & kiln turnover
Mixing glazes
General cleaning, mopping & organizing of communal tools/equipment
Aid and advise studio members with inquiries
Help out at First Friday events
Give an artist talk
Donate a small work to the BCYS collection (at end of term)
Each resident is responsible for their own housing, and we assist with guidance.

VISITING ARTIST RESIDENCY

This residency is for mid-career artists looking for opportunities for professional development in their body of work or areas such as technical and conceptual exploration. Ideal for faculty on sabbatical or professionals looking for a new perspective, this residency offers a brief but focused incubation in a community studio environment.