Ryan Patrick Bell | 2022 Lormina Salter Fellow
Patrick Bell was born in Reisterstown, Maryland and grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received his BFA in Ceramics with a Minor in Printmaking from Edinboro University in 2016 and subsequently spent two years studying Ceramics at Wichita State University in Kansas. After completing his MFA in Ceramics at Kent State University Patrick moved to Baltimore to continue teaching and making. His latest works raise questions about the fear of intimacy, anomalous sensations, and anxieties about health.
Kiran Joan | EMBARC Fellow 2022-2033
Kiran Joan is a Baltimore-based illustrator and ceramicist whose work is characterized by textures and contrasting fluid lines. Her magical worlds are influenced by a mix of cultures she grew up in, Oman, India, and the US. Kiran received her BFA in Sculpture from Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat, College of Fine Arts, Bangalore, India in 2017. Since receiving an MFA from the Illustration Practice Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art, she has worked with clients like The New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News and more.
Shea Kister | 2022/23 Long-Term Resident Artist
Shea Kister is a ceramicist and interdisciplinary artist originally from Omaha, Nebraska. She received her BFA in 2017 from the University of South Dakota and has recently received her MFA from Kansas State University in 2022. Inspired by her study of trauma’s effects on memory as well as personal and social relationships, her work enlists notions of fragmentation, discontinuity, memory distortion, and dissociation through the use of scale, surface application, and materials.
Clarissa Pezone | 2021/23 Long-Term Resident Artist
Clarissa Pezone is a ceramic sculptor originally from Sacramento, CA, and now residing in Baltimore, MD. She received her BA in 2013 from Humboldt State University in northern California and an MFA from Indiana University Bloomington in 2021. Her current work depicts realistic figurative sculpture and found objects in installations that center in private space and moments. Her practice includes the construction of trompe l’oeil objects that depicts the power of personal objects to hold memory, legacy and self-hood. Clarissa has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the Young Sculptors Award, the Christyl Ann Boger Memorial award, as well as a Windgate University Fellowship to attend Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Clarissa was the 2021/22 Lormina Salter Fellow.
Vanna Ramirez | 2021/23 Long-Term Resident Artist
Vanna Ramirez is an artist with a passion for clay who also explore various other mediums. She holds a BS in studio art from Skidmore College, and has attended the NCECA’s 53rd annual clay conference as a Multicultural Fellow, a residency at the Red Lodge Clay Center, and workshops at Penland School of Craft and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. She recently began her new journey as a self-employed artist in Baltimore, Md.
