Artists in Residence

Our Artist in Residency (AIR) program is an 8-month residency for artists who want to dive deeper into their artistic practice while in community with others.

This Year’s Cohort
Oct 2024 - May 2025

Zahra Hooshyar

Zahra Hooshyar is an interdisciplinary, first-generation Iranian-American artist born in Morgantown, West Virginia. She attended the University of California, Davis—graduating with a dual Bachelor of Art in Studio Art and Persian studies in 2022. Her body of work ranges from sculptural installations and ephemeral moments to fragile collisions of found materials, focusing on the idea of belonging and what it means to exist somewhere, false memories, and our interconnectedness through our human existence with the planet. Hooshyar finds herself uncovering stories of her ancestors, her current community, and the ecological spaces around her. Frequently asking the viewer to become the participant, Hooshyar is interested in art as an experience that should be seen and encountered through tactile interventions. Hooshyar finds great importance in preserving her Iranian-American culture through storytelling, investigation, and imagination.

Zahra Hooshyar is currently an educator and kiln tech in the Southern California region. Hooshyar has exhibited works at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Verge Center for the Arts, Light Art Space, The Basement Gallery, and the Dream Clinic Project. Hooshyar has been published in the Mulberry Literary Journal, Bravura Post, and Open Ceilings. Hooshyar has been featured on Rhonda Willer’s podcast, “The Artist in Me is Dead.” She was also a guest speaker for a storytelling segment at NCECA 2022: Fertile Ground.

Julia Pierce

Julia (Jules) Pierce is an observer, sculptor, and record keeper. Working with clay as line, they make coil-built clay drawings based on the figure and observed forms found in nature. By weaving a relationship between the two, Julia transforms an observed form into a permanent object as an act of preservation.

They have spent the last two years working as a studio technician for The Potters’ Studio in Berkeley. Julia received their BFA in Studio Art from the University of California, Davis and has been a resident at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts. Most recently, they spent their summer at Cider Creek Collective in Albion, CA. Julia grew up amongst the hills and pepper trees in North County San Diego and has family ties to Mariposa and Norwalk, CA.

Brooke Schuh

Brooke Schuh is an emerging ceramic artist originally from Northeast Wisconsin. She is interested in the unseen energies that surround us. Through both material and concept, Schuh observes and abstracts different energetic dichotomies. Her work delves into spiritual narratives, explores the balance between masculine and feminine energies, and examines the relationship between architectural landscapes and the organic world. Schuh holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in ceramics from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Certificate of Fine Arts in painting from The Academy of Fine Arts in Denmark, WI. She has showcased her work in a solo exhibition at The Draw in Wisconsin.

Hallie Off

Hallie Off (b.1990, Sacramento, CA). Off’s practice centers around using clay in sculpture, performance, image, and video work to create a contemporary queer dream(hope)scape that touches on how the history of an object’s use creates culture by shaping how we perceive ourselves and our environments.. They are an artist, writer, and educator whose practice has been shaped by the work and philosophies of Nicole Seisler, Lee Lipps, Israel Davis, Paul Wittenbraker, and the artists who call Ox-Bow School of Art in Saugatuck, MI home. Their work offers avenues of insight into abusive western labor practices and the harsh realities these practices have created. They’re current work weaves ceramic sculpture and astronomical time as a way to usher in the return of slow geo-based practices. They live and work out of their home studio in Nicasio, CA and have shown work in Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis, MN. 

“In my work I’m seeking to examine the underlying social implications of objects that are associated with blue collar labor and service work in order to question western labor practices and the social realities these practices have created.  The use of ritual, mythology, and astrology are also important features of my work as they highlight the importance of intentionally looking at semiotics, history, and tradition as foundational world building tools.”