Surface and Structure

Currently based in Lawrence, Kansas, Seuil Chung works with hand-built ceramic objects that explore physical and psychological desires through personal narratives. He is interested in constructing bodies of work that question the boundaries between ethics and transgression, reason and madness. Chung is an artist-in-residence at the University of Kansas’ Interdisciplinary Ceramics Research Center (ICRC). He received his BFA in Studio Art at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019 and his MFA in Ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2021. Chung’s recent solo exhibitions include I See Ghosts and Magic Show at the Lillstreet Art Center (Chicago, Illinois), I Love You at Concept Art Gallery (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), and Mouse Hunt at KINK Contemporary Gallery (Cleveland, Ohio). He has also exhibited at the Massillon Museum and the Akron Art Museum in Ohio.

Learn more about Seuil Chung here.

Kristen Cliffel is a ceramic sculptor working in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a 1990 graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art in Ceramics and Drawing. Cliffel is in public and private collections across the United States and has completed residencies at The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada and the Kohler Company in Wisconsin. She has also received several Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships, the prestigious Cleveland Arts Prize, a grant from the Cuyahoga Partnership for Arts and Culture, and has been a Louis Comfort Tiffany foundation Grant Nominee. She currently teaches at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio.

Learn more about Kristen Cliffel here.

PJ Hargraves is currently the Ceramics Program Coordinator and 3D Technician at the Myers School of Art at the University of Akron. Originally from the Philadelphia area, Hargraves holds a BFA in Ceramics and Glass from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. He holds an MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Hargraves has exhibited his work both nationally and internationally, including in Reykjavik, Iceland during a residency. He has also been an Artist in Residence at the LUX Center for the Arts, Pocosin School of Fine Craft, and a visiting resident at the Archie Bray Foundation.

Learn more about PJ Hargraves here.

Drew Ippoliti is an American artist, researcher and educator. His artwork investigates how ceramics can explore and explain the regions where culture and craft collide. In 2019, Ippoliti was awarded a Fulbright Scholars Fellowship to South Korea where he served as a Visiting Professor of Design at Kookmin University’s College of Design. In South Korea, his research focused on discussing economic growth and slumps as well as these market forces influences on the reception of fine art. Ippoliti is currently Associate Professor of Instruction and Ceramics Department Coordinator at the Myers School of Art at the University of Akron in Ohio. Additionally, he serves as a Fulbright Scholar Alumni Ambassador. His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in multiple public and private collections in the United States, Denmark, Holland, China, Taiwan, and South Korea.   

Learn more about Drew Ippoliti here.

Peter Christian Johnson is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Kent State University after spending 11 years at Eastern Oregon University. He earned his MFA from Penn State University and a BS in Environmental Science at Wheaton College. Johnson has been a resident artist and visiting lecturer at the Alberta College of Art and Design, Australian National University, The Archie Bray Foundation, the LH Project and the Odyssey Center for Ceramic Arts. His work has been exhibited in Canada, Australia and throughout the United States.

Learn more about Peter Christian Johnson here.

Anna Kruse is a ceramic sculptor and educator. She received her MFA at the State University of New York at New Paltz. In 2019 she completed a Post Baccalaureate at the Oregon College of Art and Craft and in 2016 she obtained her BA with honors in Psychology and Studio Art from the College of Wooster. In 2021, she was nominated and awarded the International Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Student Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture. Kruse has participated in residencies at Township 10, Arrowmont Pentaculum, and Peninsula College. She was also the Visiting Artist Scholar and Teacher at Southern Oregon University. In 2025, she was named a Ceramics Monthly emerging artist. Kruse has shown her work throughout the contiguous United States. She is an Assistant Professor of Art in Ceramics at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.

Learn more about Anna Kruse here.

Born in Hong Kong, Eva Kwong moved to New York City as a teenager. She received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from Tyler School of Art. Her work-study job at the Nature Lab at RISD immersed her studies in the diversity and similarity of forms from nature. Her lifelong interest in the intersection of the art and science of the natural world provides the conceptual framework and visual vocabulary for her compelling, colorful organic forms in sculpture, installation, and vessels. 

Kwong has presented her work in lectures, workshops, and exhibitions throughout the U.S. and in China, Korea, Japan, Australia, and Finland. Her artwork has won awards from the Ohio Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Midwest, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the McKnight Foundation. Additionally, she has done public art projects for the Center for Disease Control, AsiaTownCleveland, and the Cleveland Clinic.

Learn more about Eva Kwong here.

Seth Nagelberg is an artist and designer working in clay in Cleveland, Ohio. He strives to close the gap between craft and design by combining the unique differences in handmade objects with the production methods utilized in industry. Nagelberg constructs objects inspired by how nature organizes itself, challenging himself to apply these principles to ceramic sculpture.

He earned a BFA from the University of Hartford and MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. In 2015 Nagelberg published his first book, Batch Manufacturing for Ceramics: Models and Molds, Process to Product. His work has been published in Ceramics: Art and Perception and American Craft magazine. Nagelberg is an Associate Professor at Cleveland Institute of Art.

Learn more about Seth Nagelberg here.

Keenan O’Toole is a Toronto-based artist working in ceramics and sculpture. She earned her MFA from Kent State University in 2025 after completing a Bachelor of Craft and Design at Sheridan College (2019) and postgrad studies at Alberta University of the Arts (2020). Currently an Artist-in-Residence in Ceramics at Harbourfront Centre, O’Toole explores how physical structures shape perception, memory, and movement.

Learn more about Keenan O’Toole here.

Philip Soucy officially began his artistic career in 2003 at The Cleveland Institute of Art, although growing up in different cultures around Europe laid the foundation for his artistic journey. After five years of study towards his BFA, Soucy spent seven years traveling the American landscape, eventually finishing his degree remotely from San Diego, California. In 2019, Soucy completed his Masters from Cranbrook Academy of Art before relocating to live and work as an Artist in Residence at ClayArch Museum in Gimhae, Korea. He now lives and practices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Learn more about Philip Soucy here.