Teacher

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.

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.

Sydnie Jimenez makes figurative work of brown youth with varied personalities to show individuality within communities on the fringes of a popular culture rooted in white supremacy. The navigation through this toxic Eurocentric foundation has shaped the way the world views brown people and how they view themselves in relation to whiteness. Figures portray conversations around style, self-expression, internal reflection, and the observation of the self by others in relation to the post-colonial society we live in along with the many connotations this has. With the rebellious and suspicious nature of her figurative work she shows the tough demeanors in which especially black and brown femmes take on or are projected onto as a defense mechanism combatting an unwelcoming society.

Sydnie Jimenez was born in Orlando, FL and spent most of her childhood in north Georgia from which she draws much inspiration. She recently graduated from SAIC with a BFA focusing in ceramic sculpture and is a recipient of the Windgate Fellowship and the SPARK Grant. Much of her work centers around the representation of black/brown youth and self-expression as a form of protest, self-care, and power within community.