ALVA CALYMAYOR b. Mexico City Alva is a visual artist living in New York. Alva makes use of a visual vocabulary that addresses social issues, perceptions of safety as well as patterns of mass consumption. She keeps track of its manifestations and the trace they leave as they are discarded, repurposed or become no longer functional. Her work has been exhibited in: Astral America (curated my Keren Moscovitch, SVA, NY), Chaos/Control (curated by Melinda Wang, Doing Living, NY), Harvest the Night (curated by Leah Dixon, Beverley's, NY), Collective Show Mexico (Casa Maauad, México, D.F.), Spring Break Art Show (NY), at MWOW (curated by Grayson Cox, Knockdown Center, NY). Alva was one of five artists selected for ("Air," Ace Hotel Residency, NY), curated by the BHQFU. She was a Mentor in NYFA's Program Mentorship for Immigrants Program (2014), formed part of the 27th Bronx Artist's in the Marketplace during 2006-2007, and received a Grant from the Stephen Sprouse Scholarship Fund for pushing the boundaries within the printmaking field. Alva has been recognized in several publications for exploring and showcasing art in a non-commercial format, for her collaborations with fellow artists through Eyelevel BQE, project that she co-funded in 2008: Interview Magazine (2013), "Alternative Histories," New York art spaces from 1960-2010, MIT Press (2012), Artists in the Marketplace second Biennial; "The Other Marketplace," Lia Zaalof (2013).

Alina Patrick is a photographer, ceramicist, and arts educator living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Alina is a 2023 Risograph Print and Publication Resident at the Penumbra Foundation where she published her first book of photography and poetry in October, 2023. She is also a 2023 Artist in Residence with the Little x Little artist residency program where she collaborated with dancer/choreographer Ameeya Singh to produce a dance adaptation of her book, How to grow una flor en el desierto. Alina's work focuses on land, memory, and intergenerational stories which she explores through a variety of mediums from clay to poetry. Photo credit Shina Peng.

Elycia is our Annex studio manager, teaching artist for youth programs, and annual Woodfire class host. She is a ceramic artist whose works are inspired by her love of nature: from the forms to her surface design, all are pulling something from the earth.

Katie loves getting her hands in clay, and loves Artshack’s mission of making clay more accessible to all. As a ceramicist, she pays particular attention to the ways that working with clay is enlivening, healing, and full of lessons. She can’t get over this medium that is both so grounding, and expansive. Katie enjoys teaching people of all ages with clay, both on the pottery wheel and handbuilding, and thinks that a combo of the two makes really cool pieces. She finds inspiration in books, conversation, nature, the art of others, and by letting her own hands guide the way. If you see a small animal running around the studio or curled up in some clay, it’s her cat Eloise!