Ceramic Artists
in Residence

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About

The Ceramics Artist in Residence Program at the Sawtooth School for Visual Art is designed to encourage and enhance the creative, intellectual, professional, and personal growth of emerging studio artists. It is a period for artists to focus intensely on their work, explore new ideas and techniques, and push their work to new levels. Community involvement, professional development, and self-exploration are at the core of Sawtooth’s goals for residents.

The Ceramics Residency program is a one-year commitment. Three residents, two in wood firing and one in electric/gas firing, are chosen by the Director of Ceramics along with a rotating jury. The selections are based on the quality of the work, its artistic merit, and the diversity of the prospective group in terms of work, background, and stage of career development.

Meet our 2024-2025 residents below!

Applications for our 2025-2026 program are due Thursday, May 15. Learn more and apply here.

For more information on our Residency program– contact Po Wen Liu, Director of Ceramics at ceramics@sawtooth.org.

A.C. Bell

A.C. Bell (she/her) is a North Carolina potter originally from Chicago, IL. After a short dalliance with the sciences she discovered pottery and never looked back. In 2021, after going as far as she could taking classes at art centers and craft schools, she moved to North Carolina for the Professional Craft Program at Haywood Community College, where she began wood and salt firing with various potters around the Asheville area.

Work info: Pinched clay retains the impressions of fingerprints, wheel-thrown clay remembers the rotation of the potter’s wheel, glazes melt and are guided by gravity across surfaces, and a beautiful pot is one which fits in the hand of the user as naturally and organically as it formed in the hand of the maker. It is important that the creation processes I employ in my practice can be seen and felt by the user. When people pick up my pieces there is always an echo of the process present in the experience.

Website: acbellceramics.com
Instagram: @acbellceramics

Casper Clifford

Casper Clifford (they/them) first found the medium of clay while attending Salisbury University in Maryland as a drawing student. They became enthralled with the possibilities of the 3D form and soon switched majors, graduating with a BFA concentrating in ceramics in the Spring of 2023.

Since graduating, Casper has taught small classes, sold pieces at markets, and developed their work as a studio member at multiple studios in and near St. Petersburg, Florida.

Work Info: My work comes from the deepest darkest reaches of human emotion, translated into the form of figurative animal sculpture. I use the devices of metaphor and open wounds to create a personal, expressive narrative, combining realistic aspects with intricate, illustrative details. Experimentation of building methods and cold finishes, including paint, wood stain, and other mixed media help to bring each piece to life with the aim of developing into a cohesive story.

Instagram: @casperceramics

Eamon Rogers

Hello, my name is Eamon Rogers (he/him). I’m a California transplant, and I studied ceramics Southwestern University in Texas. I’ve been living and working in North Carolina for the past 5 years. I completed a traditional apprenticeship with Joseph Sand in Randleman, where I learned efficient throwing skills and wood firing methods. I was a clay making intern at Starworks Ceramics. I studied local materials in wood, gas, and electric kilns. In my spare time I like to go to the minor league ballpark for a game, or cook and eat with my partner and our pets, or get out on my bike.

Work info: My studio practice uses historical methods and techniques to create novel, functional artwork for contemporary settings. I use rapid wheel throwing and slow hand building methods to make my forms. My decoration is inspired by the diverse canon of American slipware and stoneware pottery. My process uses red clay bodies decorated with layered terra sigillata and imagery is produced with wax resist. I’m looking forward to exploring the reactive character of these materials in new kilns, and the local history of Moravian slipware potters in Winston-Salem.

Instagram: @improvedpottery