Course Listing - by Instructor
| Name | Biography |
|---|---|
| Cali Almy |
Cali Almy Artist Statement: After years of teaching art in Providence, RI I decided to recommit to my own artistic practice in clay, and I am currently in my second year as an Artist in Residence at the Worcester Center for Crafts. Like many artists my work is inspired by nature. Time walking in the woods, along the shore, or through the marsh provide me time and space for growth and insight. I am especially drawn to the patterns, colors, forms and contrasts in the landscape. My collection of work is an homage to place and my deep connection and love of being with nature. All my pieces are wheel thrown, hand decorated and glazed, and whether you hold a piece in your hand or see one on a shelf, meant to share that love of place. BIO: Cali holds a BA in Studio Art from the University of Vermont and an MFA from UMass, Amherst. She has been teaching in high school and community art spaces for over 2 decades, and most recently completed a first year as an Artist in Residence at the Worcester Center for Crafts. She has exhibited her ceramics at a variety of arts festivals and galleries and her work has been collected around the world. She has also worked in and supported a number of arts, educational, and social justice organizations over the years and brings a lens of community and connection to her work. Online Work
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| Hailey Angione | Hailey Angione is a jeweler and ceramicist who grew up in New Hampshire. She received a dual degree in Ceramics and Metalsmithing from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2019. She graduated summa cum laude, has won two awards from the Annual Jewelry Design Competition held by the International Precious Metals Institute, and was a finalist for the 2019 Windgate Fellowship Award. Hailey makes work inspired by books, old architecture, and history. Using a combination of metal and ceramic she makes vessels and wearable objects. Hailey enjoys experimenting with materials, sharing ideas and techniques, and finding creative solutions to creative problems. She finds joy in helping others make their best work. View Hailey's work at: haileyangione.com |
| Lyza Baum | Lyza Baum graduated from RISD in 2016 with a BFA in textile design. She has worked for a variety of textile artists and now has her own studio in Providence, Rhode Island. She currently teaches in the textile department at RISD. |
| Clay Studio Faculty | |
| Julian De La Garza |
Artist Bio Julian De La Garza was born in New York, and raised in Rhode Island. He received his BA in Jewelry/Metals from Rhode Island College and then went on to work in the industry. During this period he was a diamond setter for Tiffany & Co. and then a model maker for C & J Jewelry working on high-end jewelry brands such as David Yurman, Haverhill Leech, and Tiffany & Co. All while also continuing his personal studio practice and jewelry business. Check our Julian's website here and his Instagram page here!
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| Sandy Dukeshire | Sandy Dukeshire is a prolific hot glass artist who has worked with the material for 25 years. Her home and studio, Sandys Glass Shack, are located in Andover Massachusetts. Working with hot glass is her favorite thing in the world to do but Fibery Things come in a close second. A lifelong knitter, she enjoys relaxing with a nice skein of handspun yarn to create homemade quality slowfashion garments. |
| Paul Dumanoski | Paul Dumanoski studied photography at the Worcester Center for Crafts under Peter Faulkner. The subject for his work is the environment, both natural and man-made. He has exhibited his photographs in juried shows throughout the region and recently won an award in Preservation Worcester's Architectural Images VI. |
| Susan Getchell | |
| Polly Marie Hansel | www.pollyachiart.com |
| Tomomi Haringa | I have been a professional designer at retail florists for over 20 years, and I am trained in traditional American styles, Ikebana (a Japanese style of arranging), and in using fresh, dried, and silk flowers. I'm originally from the Tokyo area of Japan, but I have been living in Massachusetts for 25 years. |
| Jeanne Kowal | |
| Holly Lauer | |
| Lori Mader | Lori Mader Education Achievements Artist Statement Exhibitions Online Work Website |
| Carol Martens | |
| Robin McGoff | |
| Anna McNeary | Anna McNeary is an interdisciplinary artist and occasional curator, working in printmaking, fiber, sculpture and installation. She holds an MFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design, and has exhibited at venues across the United States, including Black Mountain College Museum & Arts Center’s {Re}HAPPENING Festival (Asheville, NC), The Compound Gallery (Oakland, CA), Newport Art Museum (RI), and International Print Center New York. Selected awards include a Post-Graduate Apprenticeship at The Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia, PA), residencies at Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts (Nebraska City, NE) and Santa Fe Art Institute (NM), and a RISD Graduate Fellowship. She is currently based in Providence, RI where she teaches at Rhode Island School of Design, and is a member of The Wurks art cooperative. |
| Miryana Mihaylova |
"A decade changes mountains and streams might be the right saying for my transition from functional ceramics to sculpture. I paint, draw and hand-build dark branches, wavy coil structures, flames out of shadows, shrubs, and silhouettes. The objects that I create cast shadows out of which subdued hues of rainbow emerge in the sunlight. Air flows through the forms. The time is passing by, and we are changing with it." Check out Miryana's Instagram page here. |
| Kat O'Connor | Kat O'Connor earned a Bachelor of Arts in drawing with highest honors from Montana State University in 1990 and a Master of Fine Arts in painting from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1995. O'Connor was awarded a Mass Cultural Council Fellowship for her drawings in 2018, and is honored to have received a Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts 2021 Residency. She received an Arts Worcester Material Needs Grant in 2017 and 2021. She is a Copley Master in the Copley Society of Art in Boston, Massachusetts, and her work is included in many private and corporate collections. O'Connor has exhibited her work nationwide, including three solo shows at regional museums, and won numerous awards. O'Connor has shared her love of art with students at Southwest Texas State University, The University of Texas at San Antonio, Worcester State University, Worcester Art Museum, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, and Umbrella Center for the Arts in Concord, Massachusetts. She has lead landscape painting workshops in Maine, New Hampshire, Cape Cod, New Mexico, Italy, and Greece. Her work can be viewed online at www.katopaints.com. |
| Tom O'Malley |
Tom O'Malley began studying ceramics in high school and received his BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1985. He received his MFA, with honors, from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994. O'Malley has exhibited nationally and internationally, winning numerous awards. He received an LCC Grant in 1998 and his pottery was the recipient of the People's Choice Award at the 2002 Strictly Functional Pottery National. His work has appeared in a number of publications, including Lark Books 500 Tiles, and is slated to appear in the forthcoming publication 21st Century Ceramics. He has taught at RISD, Rhode Island College, Becker College, Worcester State University and the Worcester Center for Crafts, and has presented a variety of workshops and lectures throughout New England. He has been a board member of The Studio Potter since 2005 and currently is the Studio Liaison and Program Director of the Worcester Center for Crafts. View Tom's Latest Work and Profile: Tom O'Malley Ceramics |
| JOANN OPIELAWSKI | Internationally certified in Shamanic Life Coaching and Akashic Records reading. She is a certified Reiki Master and through the teachings of Sandra Ingerman, Alberto Villoldo at the Four Winds, and literary guidance from the Q’ero shamans of Peru she is trained in Shamanic Art, Spirit Animal Guidance and Guided Meditation. |
| Elizabeth Peña-Alvarez | Elizabeth Peña-Alvarez is a sculptor based in Cranston, Rhode Island. She received her BFA from Swain School of Design and has received multiple MFA Degrees in Ceramics, one from Rhode Island School of Design and recently University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Her work is nationally exhibited, and she is the recipient of the Windgate Fellowship, from the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Elizabeth has taught art and ceramics at institutions throughout the United States, including; Miami Dade College, UMass Dartmouth, New England Technical Institute. She was born and raised in Miami, Florida, where the abundant and varied vegetation's lasting impact continues to drive her studio work, as she joins the Worcester Center for Crafts as an Artist in Residence and faculty. @elizabethesther401
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| Elizabeth Ryan-Belton | Elizabeth Ryan-Belton studied jewelry and metal smithing at the Universary of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Mass Art in 2005. After graduation Elizabeth worked as a production / bench jeweler for a local artisan before she started her own jewelry business, Looka Jewelry, in 2011. Her jewelry has been exhibited throughout the United States at fine art galleries and in juried exhibitions including The Paine Gallery, Providence Art Club, Michele Mercaldo Contemporary Jewelry, Paradise City, Artrider Fine Craft Shows and sold at Don Muller Gallery in Northampton, MA, The Boulder Arts and Crafts Co-Op in Boulder,CO , The Clever Hand Gallery in Wellesley, MA and the Worcester Center for the Crafts gallery and Holiday Festival. Elizabeth's contemporary art jewelry has been published in the following publications:
Elizabeth enjoys teaching the craft of metal smithing to students of all ages and her favorite techniques include hand-piercing (often with a tiny sawblade), hand fabrication and soldering.
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| Jessica Sadlier | Jessica is a multi-disciplinary designer and artist with an extensive history of creative projects and pursuits. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Art & Design from MIT and her Master of Architecture degree from UC Berkeley. She has worked in a variety of disciplines including architecture, design tech, marketing, theater design(prop, set and costume) with extensive experience in fiber arts and sewing, both garment and craft. Jessica loves to combine various media and techniques to create interesting projects ranging from functional decor to wearable tech. She relishes the challenges and thrills of learning new skills and enjoys sharing this experience with others through fun, accessible, and high quality creative educational experiences. |
| Tomo Sakai |
Tomo graduated from Tama Art University in Tokyo, Japan, with a specialization in glass, and went on study glass engraving and coldworking in the Czech Republic. She was an artist-in-residence at Worcester Center for Crafts from 2012-2014, and now has her own studio in Worcester. She teaches regularly at the Worcester Center for Crafts, the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and the Corning Museum of Glass. Website: www.cruzesakai.com
Instagram: @cruzesakai
Education Artist Statement "My journey as an artist has been informed by my experience growing up in Japan - the nexus of a profound, traditional past in co-existence and interaction with an energetic, hyper-modern future. My choice of glass as a medium reflects my experience: it is both rooted in traditional techniques while at the same time projecting a modern materiality. I want to capture this reality in my work, balancing the old and the new, honoring tradition and innovation, exploring past and future." Exhibitions |
| Photography Studio Faculty | |
| Jennifer Swan | Jen Swan is a teaching artist and mural painter who shares her love of art with the diverse community of Worcester and its surrounding cities and towns. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she currently teaches classes for the Worcester Art Museum, Listening Wellness Center, The Overlook, LACI Homeschoolers and in many public and private schools as a Cultural Partner. Making connections between art and nature has also inspired collaborations with the Audubon and EcoTarium. Her recent paintings explore art and ecology as she portrays the web of interrelationships in our environment. Through plein air landscapes, botanical and wildlife studies, she wishes to creatively propose new possibilities for coexistence, sustainability and healing. |
| Rachel Tufts | |
| Bianca Turner | |
| MIKE VECCHI | Michael Vecchi is a registered yoga teacher (RYT500) with Yoga Alliance, classical and traditional Raja Yoga, advanced yoga teacher training 500-hour certification, influences of Anusara, Kripalu, Iyengar Style, and Insight Meditation, completed level II gong training |
| NINA VECCHI | Certificated Sound Healing Therapist (400 hour certification), Kundalini Yoga Teacher, Therapeutic Music, CMP, Reiki II, Level IV VSM (vibrational sound massage) Acoutinics Level 3 |
| D ZEUTAS-BROER | D is an experienced and enthusiastic holistic health consultant, diversity trainer, and certified yoga teacher. She founded Pure Energy Yoga and Holistic Health Consulting over 20 years ago, to provide personal and small group sessions and classes to those seeking a more creative and balanced lifestyle. D is a Licensed Certified Social Worker with an M.A. in Counseling Psychology and doctoral work in Human Services and Applied Behavioral Sciences including holistic therapies, the use of imagery in therapy, and social justice. She has specialized in enhancing mindfulness, and optimal stress response for athletes, clinicians, service providers, and trauma survivors of all ages. D is, also, a Level IV Reiki Master, a dancer, poet, and mixed media artist, who is inspired by cityscapes, nature and animals. She participated in improv workshops led by Academy Award winning actor, Alan Arkin, and thinks it’s all improv. |
