Get to know The Bray teachers
Jon Bashioum
Teacher Bio
Jon Bashioum is a wood fire potter, who was born in North Carolina and moved away shortly after. Having never seen the place where he was born, Jon took to rambling around the country and has adopted Montana as his home. After earning his bachelor’s degree in music from Bethany College in West Virginia, and narrowly missing an art degree due to a clerical error, Jon pursued a variety of global experiences in ceramics. He received his MFA from Montana State University, and is now the Production Manager for the Archie Bray Clay Business. His explorations of utilitarian wares represent a curiosity in the regional lifestyles that can only exist from long-term inhabitation, but are best appreciated by the traveler. With his eyes ever on the road, Jon is currently renovating a charter bus with his partner, Danielle O’Malley, and turning it into the mobile gallery: The Beyond Gallery.
Shea Burke
Teacher Bio
Shea Burke makes vessels that contain thoughts on Black identity, history, and craft tradition. Weaving together inspiration granted from West African functional pottery, raw textured surfaces, and a style of coiling all their own, they craft queer ceramic bodies. These vessels act as a storage place for the wisdom we need to hold on to, until we are ready to pour that wisdom into ourselves. Ceramics can be the centerpiece in connection across the diaspora; reuniting us with the way we used the earth before colonialism.
Shea Burke was born and raised in Rochester NY. They have participated in multiple exhibitions including at Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami, FL and David Klein Gallery in Detroit, MI. Shea received their BFA from Alfred University in 2017 and an MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2021. They were the recipient of a Zenobia Award for a residency at Watershed Ceramics in 2018. Following their MFA, Shea recently completed a Residency at the Harvard Ceramics program.
Muriel Condon
Teacher Bio
Muriel Condon received her BFA from Montana State University in Printmaking and Painting in 2016, and MFA in Printmaking at University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Muriel is currently a participant of The Bray's Education Assistantship program
Allyson George
Teacher Bio
Allyson George recently received her BFA from West Virginia University and is currently a participant in The Bray's Education Assistantship program.
Perry Haas
Teacher Bio
Perry Haas has been working with clay since 2003. He studied at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove, Illinois and Utah State University where he received his BFA. Perry has been a resident artist in Demark at Guldagergaard , The Archie Bray Foundation, Clay Studio of Missoula and the Red Lodge Clay Center. Haas’s work continues to evolve and has been seen in numerous collections. He’s inspired by the mountains and streams of the landscape that surrounds him in Montana. Currently Perry is the Facilities and Studio Manager at The Archie Bray Foundation. He lives and works out of his home studio in Clancy, Montana.
Danielle O’Malley
Teacher Bio
Danielle O’Malley is a large-scale sculptor working and residing in Helena, Montana. O’Malley received her MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, completed a ceramics focused post baccalaureate program at Montana State University, and her BFA from Plymouth State University. She has been a resident artist at: Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, and the Red Lodge Clay Center. She consistently participates in solo and group exhibitions. O’Malley’s work can be found in the permanent collections of: the Northwest Art Gallery in Minot, ND, the Silver Bow Art Gallery in Butte, MT, and the Taoxichuan Art Center in Jingdezhen, China.
Austin Riddle
Teacher Bio
Austin Riddle’s pots are made as companions for you and your home. A vase for your table, full of freshly picked flowers as you and your partner eat breakfast and plan your day’s activities. Large platters and compartment trays to present home-cooked meals with friends on a warm summer evening. Whiskey sippers that nestle in warm hands, topped off as needed from a half-empty bottle of Jack Daniels.
Austin Riddle recently received his MFA in ceramics at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. He received his BFA in ceramics at the University of Utah in 2016. He has been an Artist-in-Residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, The Bright Angle in Asheville. North Carolina, and at Art Center West in Roswell, Georgia. He was awarded emerging artist by Ceramics Monthly in 2019 and has exhibited his work all over the United States.
Stephanie Seguin
Teacher Bio
Artist and Educator, Stephanie Seguin received her MFA from Pennsylvania State University, and BFA from Minnesota State University, Moorhead. Born and raised in the Minneapolis area, Stephanie used her ambitions in clay to work and study at various production and educational studios across the United States and abroad. Stephanie was a Resident Artist and Education Coordinator at Carbondale Clay Center (CO) and has taught community and academic classes for Pennsylvania State University, Colorado Mountain College, and Western New Mexico University, among others. Stephanie currently works from her home studio in Helena, MT and is the Education Manager of The Archie Bray Foundation.
Bill Wilkey
Teacher Bio
Bill Wilkey is a studio artist living in Helena, Montana. He received his MFA from the University of Missouri, and BFA from East Tennessee State University. Bill came to the Archie Bray Foundation as a long term resident artist in 2014 and was awarded the Lincoln and Lillstreet Art Center Fellowships, then became an artist in residence and visiting faculty at Indiana University Southeast 2016-2017. Bill exhibits his work widely and teaches workshops nationally. He has been featured in Ceramics Monthly as an Emerging Artist, as well as a cover article for Pottery Making Illustrated. Most recently, he rebuilt the soda kiln and built a new cross draft soda kiln for The Bray.
Maura Wright
Teacher Bio
Maura Wright's sculptural, terracotta vessels are often draped with laurels, florets, and vignettes. Braids, ropes, and fruit clusters are intertwined with floral and geometric patterns. The forms are expressively bulged and distorted. She weds high art to low until we can’t tell the difference, until we must acknowledge the staginess of all art, of all life. Based in Helena, Montana, Maura Wright is originally from Columbia, Missouri. She received a MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2018 and a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2013. Residencies include: the International Ceramic Research Center in Skaelskor, Denmark; the International Ceramic Studio in Kecskemet, Hungary; Red Star Studios in Kansas City, MO; The Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT; and Red Lodge Clay Center in Red Lodge, MT. She is currently the Gallery Program Manager at the Archie Bray Foundation.
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We're always looking for talented and passionate artists and educators to be a part of our teaching pool. If you'd like to share your skills and perspectives with students of The Bray, fill out our Teacher Application today!