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Past Long Term Resident

Dante Gambardella

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Dante Gambardella
2024 Quigley-Hiltner Fellow
Bozeman, Montana

Gambardella grew up in the Bay Area and discovered ceramics after moving to Bozeman, MT. While studying at Montana State University, he became deeply interested in wood firing and using local materials—techniques ceramicists have practiced for thousands of years.

In recent years, Gambardella has expanded his practice to include ceramic furniture and glaze paintings. Still, he remains deeply inspired by Montana’s rich geology and the unique experience of working with local materials. To him, the world of clay is about engaging with his community, contributing to a network of shared knowledge, and continuously challenging himself as an artist.

Jason Lee Starin

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Jason Lee Starin
2024 Sarah Frederick Scholar
Grand Rapids, Michigan

Jason Lee Starin has shown in numerous group exhibitions throughout the USA, most notably at Atlantic Gallery, NYC., Katherine E. Nash Gallery, MN., Law Warschaw Gallery, MN., Woodmere Art Museum, PA., Gravity Gallery, MA., American Museum of Ceramic Art, CA., The Center for Craft, Creativity and Design, NC., GCA Gallery, NYC., Arizona State University Art Museum, Ceramics Research Center, AZ., The Clay Studio, PA., and San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, TX.

Starin is currently a full-term artist in residence at The Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT. From 2015 – 2019, Starin was a full-term resident artist at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, PA. In 2017, Starin received an Independence Foundation Fellowship Grant to research his interest in Geomythology during a two-month stay at the NES Artist Residency in Skagaströnd, Iceland. From 2015 to 2020, Starin served as a Faculty Member as well as the Ceramic Shop Supervisor and Technician in the Craft and Material Studies Program at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. During that time, he also taught Advanced Handbuilding classes at The Clay Studio. From 2013 to 2014, Starin was the Lead Ceramic Technician and Studio manager for the Ceramic Department of Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, OR. He has held positions with BDDW, LLC., Mudshark Studios, LLC., Michael Curry Design, Inc., The Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, as well as Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University.

Starin received his MFA in Applied Craft and Design from Pacific Northwest College of Art and Oregon College of Art and Craft in 2011, and his BFA in Ceramics from Grand Valley State University in 1999. In 1998, he studied Conceptual Art and Sculpture at Kingston University, Kingston, United Kingdom.

Jake Brodsky

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Jake is a potter living in the mountains outside of Helena, Montana with his family. He was born and raised in Helena, and much of the ideas behind his work are influenced by the landscapes of Montana and from growing up in a community that has long supported artist-potters. After pursuing opportunities around the country for the last decade, he moved back to Helena in 2023 to settle down and build a sustainable studio practice.

Jake’s formative education in ceramics came through working at craft schools, community studios, and for other artists, and he received his MFA in Ceramic Art from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He has completed artist residencies at Red Lodge Clay Center, Pottery Northwest, and Studio 740, and is excited to begin a long-term residency at the Archie Bray Foundation in 2025.

Kim Tucker

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Kim Tucker
2024 Joan Lincoln Fellow
California

Kim Tucker’s figures are outsiders caught in moments of vulnerability, and her works are influenced by Beatrice Wood, Viola Frey, cave paintings and vintage figurines. She creates portraits of humans feeling weird, happy, lost, joyful and sometimes uncomfortable. Often with a female subject at the center, she uses figuration as a gestural means of expression to dig deeper into the psyche.

Tucker studied ceramic sculpture under the direction of Viola Frey and Arthur Gonzalez at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland CA, graduating with High Distinction. She received her MFA in ceramics under the guidance of M.J. Bole at The Ohio State University in Columbus. Kim was a recent invited artist-in-residence at Cal State University Dominguez Hills, The Bray, and the American Museum of Ceramic Arts. Kim has shown her work at Gallery Futur (Switzerland), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, American Museum of Ceramic Arts, Lauren Powell Projects, L2Kontemporary and AMcE Creative Arts.

Sarah Alsaied

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As a bicultural artist, Sarah Alsaied makes work that straddles Eastern and Western cultures, and the complex issues of identity and the collapse of social, cultural, racial, and gendered borders. Through the use of clay, fiber, and installation art, she expresses aspects of herself and challenges stereotypes of Arab women.

Alsaied sculpts strange figures, surreal and haunting. She distorts the human figure to express identity, evoke emotions, and explore ideas of otherness, and invisibility. These figures evoke a sense of unease and disorientation in the viewer. Her color palette of black, white and red holds significant cultural and symbolic meaning within the Arab world and she uses the leading marks of color to represent the passage of time and to pay homage to her cultural heritage. She incorporates fibers in her work to represent the weaving and unraveling of her dual cultural identities. She uses fabric as a symbol to celebrate identity and honor privacy. Clay is used for its historical significance and its ability to record touch. She uses yarn to express a wide range of emotions such as connection/grief/love, and belonging. Through the combination of malleable and permanent qualities of the materials, Sarah explores and expresses the complexities of identity.

Sarah Alsaied is an artist from Kuwait based in the Midwest, United States. Sarah earned a BA in Studio Arts with ceramics emphasis at University of Southern Indiana (2018) and an MFA with sculpture emphasis at Wichita State University (2022). In 2021, Sarah contributed in organizing, co-creating, and co-designing of Juneteenth Parade Float in Wichita, KS, and reimagined the homecoming parade mascot puppet for Wichita State University. Recently, she finished a residency at the New Harmony Clay Project Center. Outside of the studio, Sarah is a wanderer who enjoys cooking, sporty activities, jewelry making, and video games.

Laura Dirksen

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Laura Dirksen’s work embodies her own cognitive dissonance and becomes a vehicle to understand her conflicted and evolving value system. This value system includes, but is not limited to, societal pressures within dairy culture, coding systems incorporating domestic and livestock materials, as well as trends, age, diagnosis, and religion. Laura’s visual language is a product of how she processes materials and navigates the world, forging sculptures as a celebration of techniques blended with her personal traditions and heritage.

Laura Dirksen is from Maria Stein, Ohio. She received her BFA from Bowling Green State University specializing in ceramics and painting in 2019. Afterwards she completed a two-year Post Baccalaureate Program at Kent State University. Laura recently received her MFA from Penn State University in Spring 2023, before joining us at the Archie Bray Foundation.

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