Current Residents
Ethan Arias
Long-Term Resident 2024-2026
Sippy Fellow
Ethan Arias, a Coral Springs, Florida native, started studying ceramics in 2021 at the University of North Florida. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Engineering Studies with a focus in Fine Arts Materials and minors in Marketing and Ceramics in May of 2024. While in his undergraduate studies he earned two research grants to enhance his study of ceramics materials. As an artist, Ethan is focused on wheel-thrown, functional ceramics that are fired in atmospheric kilns. His work is often inspired and influenced by the curves of the human body.
Instagram: @eapottery
Yve Holtzclaw
Long-Term Resident 2024-2026
Sippy Fellow
Yve Holtzclaw is a genderqueer artist and educator originally from Atlanta, Georgia. Since graduating from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with their BFA in ceramics and art history in 2020, they have been awarded the Donis. A. Dondis travel grant, completed a residency in ceramics at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art, and organized shows both locally and nationally. Their work focuses on the intersection of the metaphysical and the tender through immersive and nostalgic installations of anthropomorphized climate, animals, and architecture. Interested in giving a face to forces and creatures who blend into our urbanized landscape, their work explores the inescapable enmeshment and interaction of wild and domestic forces through portraits constructed from materials which span ceramic, fiber, metal, wood and paint.
instagram: @yve.ceramics
Heather Lepp
Long-Term Resident 2024-2026
Sippy Fellow
Heather Lepp is an artist and educator originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She received her BFA from the University of Manitoba in 2016, and her MFA from West Virginia University in 2024. In addition to formal education, she apprenticed with four professional potters from 2016-2020. In 2019 she was an artist in residence at Medalta, and in 2023 she was a summer resident at the Red Lodge Clay Center. She was awarded the Marilyn Levitt Prize in Functional Ceramics from the Manitoba Arts Council. She has taught at numerous art centers and exhibited her work across Canada and the United States.
Instagram: @heatherlepp
Jack Schwarze
Wood Fire Resident 2025-26
Sippy Fellow
Jack Schwarze is a Montana raised artist currently working and living in Missoula. He received
his BFA from Montana State University in his hometown of Bozeman in 2019. Jack went on to
complete artist residencies at Cobb Mountain Art and Ecology and Red Lodge Clay Center.
Most recently he has worked as a studio assistant for Casey Zablocki.
“The aesthetic of decay—where objects and structures slowly lose their purpose—is central to
My work. Through my exploration of these themes, I aim to reflect on the ways in which
technology and industry have shaped our environment, while acknowledging the complex
relationship between progress and the land. I am deeply moved by the beauty found in this
degradation, as well as the questions it raises about sustainability, consumption, and waste.”
Instagram: @jacks_arts
Casey Burton
Long-Term Resident 2025-26
Sippy Fellow
Casey Burton was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. She received a BFA in ceramics from the University of Iowa in 2019 and continued her exploration with clay at the University of Kansas as a post-baccalaureate student. In 2020, Casey moved to Northern California, where she was an artist-in-residence at Cobb Mountain Art & Ecology Project. These two years were formative in deepening her connection to the land and cultivating a desire to engage with it more intentionally. In 2024, she received her MFA from Penn State University. There she was honored with the Kiki Smith Fellowship at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and the Creative Achievement Award. After graduate school, Casey taught Transitions and Ceramics courses as an adjunct professor at Saint Xavier University and worked in floriculture at Garfield Conservatory in Chicago, IL.
Casey’s work weaves together care, embodied experience, and the tension between the eternal and the ephemeral. Through working with earth matter, she creates sculptures and installations that explore healing and the complexities of identity. This physical dialogue becomes a grounding ritual—an exploration of tenderness, endurance, and self-preservation. By shaping materials with her body, she mourns past selves and memories while celebrating the rewilding of self, an act of renewal.
Instagram: @caseyburton
Steve Belz
Short-Term Resident March 2026
Steve Belz is a sculptor, educator, and artist whose work investigates the intersection of contemporary life and the natural world, seeking to foster deeper connections with others and nature. Raised in Olympia, Washington, Steve developed a lasting reverence for the environment that continues to inform and inspire his creative practice.
He earned a B.S. in Environmental Studies from The Evergreen State College before moving to a small mountain town in Colorado, where he spent more than a decade working as a potter and carpenter. His commitment to both art and learning eventually led him back to academia, culminating in an M.F.A. from Kansas State University.
In 2015, Steve returned to Washington State to lead the ceramics program at Peninsula College in Port Angeles, where he is a tenure-track professor of art. His work has been widely exhibited, and he remains active in presenting workshops and lectures across the country.
Steve is currently on a leave of absence “sabbatical” for the 2025–26 academic year, He plans to focus on expanding his studio practice, traveling, and cultivating new artistic, professional, and environmental connections.
Instagram: @steve.belz
Website: www.stevebelz.com