Alva Calymayor, a visual artist from Mexico City now based in both New York and Mexico City, explores social issues, perceptions of safety, and patterns of mass consumption through her art. Her interdisciplinary approach emphasizes process-driven learning and play, reflecting her role as both an artist and the founder of Art Experimentos. Previously, Alva ran the artist-run space Eyelevel BQE, which was highlighted in Exit Art's "Alternative Histories," curated by Herb Tam - celebrating pioneering alternative art venues in New York. Her work has been featured in notable exhibitions such as Astral America, Chaos/Control, and Harvest the Night, and she has exhibited in both the U.S. and Mexico, including at Casa Maauad in Mexico City and the Spring Break Art Show in New York. Alva’s contributions extend to her role as a mentor in NYFA's Program Mentorship for Immigrants and her involvement in the Bronx Artists in the Marketplace program. Recognized for her non-commercial approach to art, she co-founded Eyelevel BQE in 2008 and has been acknowledged in publications like Interview Magazine and MIT Press. Her innovative printmaking earned her a grant from the Stephen Sprouse Scholarship Fund.

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.

Dini Dixon received a BFA in Ceramics from Pratt Institute. Her work explores the intersection of video and ceramics utilizing traditional ceramic techniques and stop motion animation. In 2018 she had solo exhibitions at 808 Projects in Denver and the Thomas Hunter Project Space in Manhattan.Her video The Long Goodbye was an official selection of the 2018 Supernova Digital Animation Festival. in 2023 She will be the artist in residence at Artshack Brooklyn. Currently Dini is Director of Youth Programs at Artshack Brooklyn. She works on her ceramics and clay-animation at her studio in East Williamsburg.

McKendree Key founded Artshack in 2008, and turned Artshack into a nonprofit in 2016. McKendree is a professional artist with over 20 years of teaching experience. She is a native New Yorker and taught art with Studio in a School for 8 years. She has taught workshops at Socrates Sculpture Park , P.S.1, and The Whitney Museum of American Art. She taught art education at Pratt Institute for 3 years. She holds an MFA from Hunter College and a BFA from Colorado College. She studied at Skowhegan School of Painting and Scultpure, and has exhibited her work at P.S.1, The Sculpture Center, CUE Art Foundation, The Institute for Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, Socrates Sculpture Park, and The Brooklyn Museum, among other venues. In 2023, McKendree founded Keepsake Gallery, a space within Artshack where she leads and exhibits collaborative art projects with community members and kids. photo: Michael Dajour

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.

Alayna Wiley is a ceramicist and an art educator with a passion for cultivating self knowledge through creative expression. As a Teaching Artist for The Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as the Museum of Arts and Design, she identifies artistic concepts within the galleries and translates them into approaches for artmaking in the studio. In her own design practice Alayna focuses on the material languages of clay, paper, textiles, metals, and stone for her collection, ANIMATE OBJECTS. She welcomes you to center yourself as you center the clay!