Residency History

Sarah Vaughn, 2026

“I was very fortunate to spend 12 days working with the team at Duncan McClellan Gallery as a resident artist with the Duncan McClellan School Project. While a resident artist, I worked on a facet of my Weatherworn series, where I recreate the memory of a stone in glass and other materials. Though this body of work has been part of my practice for ten years now, my time with DMG allowed me to reconsider the best methods for fabricating the stones and to reflect on how the work has evolved conceptually since the first glass stone was made in 2015.” – Sarah Vaughn

Sarah Vaughn is an American glass artist whose work explores memory, emotion, and the passage of time through sculptural and installation-based glass. She earned her BFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and her MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and has since exhibited and taught across the United States.

Vaughn is particularly known for her glass “rock” installations, in which thousands of individually crafted forms represent moments, memories, and personal experiences. Combining techniques such as blowing, casting, and flameworking, her work transforms familiar objects into poetic reflections on resilience and shared human experience.

Steve Hagan, 2026

Steve Hagan is a glass artist, foodie, and proponent of pure beauty. His works combine a love of function with modern form and design, while often creating a mix of citrus-inspired jewelry, tableware, and sculpture. A Philadelphia native, Steve attended Tyler School of Art where he was first able to witness the fluid and spontaneous nature of glass. After graduating in 2002 from Temple University he spent the next few years invested in the public access glass scene of Philadelphia teaching at multiple area studios. In 2008, he re-entered academia and began his graduate studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. His thesis exhibition titled “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” in 2011 opened up a more sculptural approach to his studio practice, combining both extensive murrini pattern applications and non-vessel glass blowing. Since that time he has lived all around the US while traveling to make his work through residencies and as a visiting artist. Currently residing in Tucson, he runs a private glass studio with Mark Leputa where they have a warm, flame, and cold shop while utilizing Sonoran Glass School’s public access hot shop for their glassblowing applications.

Mark Leputa, 2026

Mark Leputa always found great pride and satisfaction in creating with his hands. As a University of Pittsburgh graduate, Mark felt his imagination burning within. In 2004, during a backpacking trip to New Zealand, Mark finally found his artistic passion when he discovered the medium of glass. The heat, fire, and seemingly liquid state of the material entranced him. The short New Zealand holiday turned into a three-year apprenticeship as he began to develop a body of work where simplicity, purity of form, and negative space merge. This period (2004-2007) marked a turning point, leading him towards a
career as a professional artist.

Jason Chakravarty, 2025

Jason Chakravarty is a mixed media, object maker living in Arizona. The majority of his work is cast glass and often incorporates neon for illumination. Glass can be anything; thick, thin, shiny, dull, rough, smooth, transparent, or opaque. It is the only material that can capture light. While material and notably glass are important, his emphasis is within the narrative. His most recent works are semi-auto biographical and reflect on human relationships, communication, and social networking.

Jennifer Caldwell, 2025

In her work, Jennifer Caldwell seeks to marry the extraordinary with the ordinary, encouraging viewers to appreciate the beauty that surrounds them. Through her glass creations, she captures fleeting moments and aims to inspire others to find wonder in both their immediate environments and distant travels. “I am constantly pulling inspiration from my immediate surroundings, from places I travel, and from the people I meet along the way, including my favorite little muse, my grandson,” she shares.

Born and raised in California, Caldwell began her artistic journey with glass in 2000 while living in the vibrant landscapes of Hawaii. Today, she resides and creates in Kingston, WA, where her passion for glass art flourishes.

Megan Beckler, 2024

Megan Beckler is a self-taught photographic artist from St. Petersburg, Florida. Her journey in the arts began in 2002 with her first photography class. Megan began shooting with film and enjoyed the hands-on darkroom process. Over the next 20 years, she developed her signature style as she brought her film sensibilities to digital photography. Megan’s focus has been portrait photography and narrative.

Her photography has evolved over time. As for the subject matter, she began with self-portraits by exploring the creation of characters and narratives. Megan first worked with film, then on digital photography, and worked in mixed media using acrylic and ink photo transfers. The discovery of acrylic transfers helped her to create dimensional layered portraits using photography, color pigments, and resin. The combination of layering these various materials helped her explore the use of dimension and transparent imagery in creating surrealistic portraits. Her multi-layered glass portraits are the first step on the journey into the beautiful and challenging world of glass.

“I achieve my portraits by kiln-forming decals of my photography combined with powders, inclusions, color, and light. I aim to create work that is enchanting to the viewer. The longer you spend with each piece, the more you will gather; examining each layer of glass and discovering the story that is held within.”

Shelly Steck Reale, 2024

Shelly Steck Reale is a sculpture artist in St. Petersburg, Florida. Her work examines social and environmental issues through the use of art, creating a unique understanding in a way that words fail to express. She believes that art has a unique ability to lead its viewers to examine and question our cultural, political, gender, and societal norms in the hope that the viewing leads one to examine the world around them differently. Shelly’s work has earned numerous awards and is represented in several galleries in the Tampa Bay area.

Sometimes words fall short. That’s when visual arts have a profound ability to step in and open viewers up to a gut level perspective previously inaccessible.

The process of creating, exhibiting, and experiencing art wields a unique power to understand the world in different and imaginative ways. I hope my work illuminates ideas that encourage an examination of views, sparks new ways of thinking, and serves as an impetus for change.

Traer Price, 2024

Traer Price is a designer committed to celebrating the power of visual expression to connect us with ourselves and each other. Traer is a multidisciplinary designer whose career has spanned corporate and nonprofit graphic design; a thirty-year career in the water feature show choreography; and an artisanal jewelry design and fabrication business under the name Traer Price Design.  Throughout her experience in different facets of the design field, Traer has experienced the homecoming of allowing her inner landscape to be seen, both in the aliveness of her own heart and in the reflected connection in others’ eyes.  Traer finds fulfillment in facilitating others’ expression of their truest selves. 

Traer has been fortunate to spend time at DMG exploring glass in two ways, first in the application of her graphic expression developed through ink drawing and in her copper jewelry on blown glass vessels provided by Duncan McClellan Gallery and second in investigating bas-relief cast glass pendants for incorporation in her jewelry line. In both cases a container of making as a way of knowing and connecting infused conversations with other artists, both visiting and staff, for a rich and profoundly meaningful immersion in the DMG glass community.

Trey Snowden, 2021

Trey Snowdon received a BS from The Ohio State University in Biological Anthropology in 2006. After opening his eyes in Europe and Central America for two years, Trey found himself attending Columbus College of Art and Design. In 2013 Trey received a BFA in Glass and Small Scale Metals at CCAD. In 2016, he received his MFA in glass at Kent State University under the guidance of Henry Halem. Along with teaching, Trey has studied at Pilchuck Glass School, Pittsburgh Glass Center, has been a TA at Penland School of Crafts, in addition to interning at Starworks and Wet Dog glass. As a sculptor, Trey continues to push his glass, merging numerous mediums together, while also conceptually evolving his work.

Mark Leputa, 2021

In 2021, Mark held his fourth solo exhibition ‘Beyond the Temporal’ at the Duncan McClellan Gallery (Saint Petersburg, Florida) where he was also invited as an Artist in Residence alongside longtime friend Steve Hagan. Immediately after the conclusion of the residency, Mark and Steve road tripped to Tucson, Arizona to visit the Sonoran Glass School. After over a year of searching, they found the perfect location for their private studio, and on November 1, 2021 they would receive keys to what is now High Priority Studio – Tucson, Arizona.

Mark Leputa is a glass artist whose career began in 2004, when a backpacking trip to New Zealand introduced him to the heat, fire, and fluidity of glass. What began as a short holiday became a three-year apprenticeship, during which he developed a body of work centered on simplicity, purity of form, and negative space. After returning to the United States, Leputa worked alongside glass artist Cal Breed at Orbix Hot Glass in Alabama from 2007 to 2020, an experience that allowed him to further develop his technical skills and artistic practice. He has received two Alabama State Council on the Arts Fellowship Grants and has exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions in the Netherlands and a 2017 retrospective at the Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan, Alabama. In 2021, Leputa established High Priority Studio in Tucson, Arizona, with longtime collaborator Steve Hagan, where he continues to create, teach workshops, and contribute to the Tucson glass community. His work reflects a relentless pursuit of precision and detail, with each movement carefully considered and each title chosen to connect the physical form of the glass with its emotional meaning.

Emily Kuchenbecker, 2020

Emily Kuchenbecker (b. 1993 in Madison, WI) is a multidisciplinary artist who combines poetry, movement, and objects to create sensory experiences. She holds her Master of Fine Arts from the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), and Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point. Emily views glass as an inherently similar material to the body and forces of nature.

Julie Johnson, 2020

“Originally from the  west coast of Scotland, I have been living and working in Paimpol, north Brittany, France for 25 years. ​The natural environment  is essential to my creative process, as my sculpture work reflects my love of nature and my observations of birds and other wildlife.”

Daniel Alexander, 2019

“It was an amazing experience working at DMG School Project in 2019. I had the opportunity to create a body of work, experiment with new ideas, and fine tune my process.

The staff was very supportive and empowering. The work I focused on was extremely large scale and required a team to create. It was reassuring to have a crew of people that are looking out for the gaffer and ready to step in at the drop of a dime! Duncan and the team at DMG are inspiring, encouraging, and have an energy like no other studio I have worked in!”

Tim Soluna, 2019

Tim Soluna was born in Carbondale, Illinois in 1985, where he developed an interest in the arts at an early age. He began working with molten glass at the age of 17 and fell in love with the unique medium. He is captivated by the material’s transformation from solid to liquid and the complex dance of the glassblowing process. After high school, he attended Southern Illinois University and received a scholarship to attend Pilchuck Glass School summer intensive. In 2010, he graduated from SIU with a BFA specializing in glass art. Since graduation, he has worked in glass studios in Illinois, Oregon, and Florida. Tim became the Morean Glass Studio Manager in 2020.

Jeremiah Jacobs, 2019

“The residency was nothing short of amazing!  It had started the day after the 2019 Glass Art Society Conference which was held here in St. Petersburg.   2019 GAS was the first glass conference I had been too and I was even invited to be part of a collaborative demo at DMG which was very successful.  The excitement of the conference gave us a tremendous amount of energy as we started the residency, filling our heads with endless possibilities and potential.

The residency was a tremendous growth opportunity, and grow we did!   We were able to attempt things we had been unsure were possible.   Some pieces took four days to prep and eight people to assemble.   With great risk can come great reward (that was the thinking anyway).   Personally, I experienced a significant  amount of loss which I think is directly tied to an equal amount of personal growth, and thus the basis of the entire premise of the residency was achieved!

It would be impossible for me to say enough great things about Duncan McClellen and the DMG Hot Shop and team.  My experience with this organization has changed my life!  I arrived at DMG a production potter willing to pull weeds just to learn.  Now seven years later, I enjoy a career as a full time glass artist.  I literally could not have done it without DMG!”

Steven Hagan, 2018

“I’ve never worked so hard in my life.  I was very aware of the investments being made for me to be there and I wanted to match that with my effort.”

Steve Hagan is a glass artist, foodie, and proponent of pure beauty. His works combine a love of function with modern form and design, while often creating a mix of citrus-inspired jewelry, tableware, and sculpture. A Philadelphia native, Steve attended Tyler School of Art where he was first able to witness the fluid and spontaneous nature of glass. After graduating in 2002 from Temple University he spent the next few years invested in the public access glass scene of Philadelphia teaching at multiple area studios. In 2008, he re-entered academia and began his graduate studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. His thesis exhibition titled “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” in 2011 opened up a more sculptural approach to his studio practice, combining both extensive murrini pattern applications and non-vessel glass blowing. Since that time he has lived all around the US while traveling to make his work through residencies and as a visiting artist. Currently residing in Tucson, he runs a private glass studio with Mark Leputa where they have a warm, flame, and cold shop while utilizing Sonoran Glass School’s public access hot shop for their glassblowing applications.

Aya Oki, 2018

“This residency taught me about the relationship between myself, galleries, and my audience.  I truly grew as an artist.  DMG is a great environment to get inspired and grow.”

Since then, she has been traveling the world as an artist and an educator. Recently, she completed the DMG School Project, Residency in St Petersburg, FL

Nikolai Morse, 2018

“The residency allowed me to move from technique to expression. Activating my pieces is necessary. I’ve spent my time focusing on techniques and never pushed myself into the market. To be surrounded by a team that pushes you into the market helps me value my time and effort. I have learned how to do it sustainably and this residency has been the push I need to continue down the road of producing glass art.”

Eli Cecil, 2018

“This residency has been a spring board for my career. I was feeling like I was on the cusp of a new body of work and this opportunity has provided a much-needed push to hone in on those skills. The residency also allowed me to connect my concept with the work I’ve been creating. The ability to take risk and try new techniques has been a game changer for me. It has allowed for much needed research and development and I’m ready to explore with my new-found confidence and apply this experience to future projects.”

Glass has been part of my life for the past 8 years and I have been fortunate to continue working with the medium after receiving my BFA by being involved with several prestigious institutions, such as Corning, PGC, and the Chrysler Museum. The professional experience gained from these institutions has helped me develop a career and find opportunities to travel and work alongside many ambitious studio teams and renowned artists. The experience of each endeavor has allowed me to grow technically in the hot shop, creatively as an artist, and as a leader in and out of the studio. Participating in the DMG Residency program will be an opportunity to continue growing in all of these directions meanwhile allowing me to focus on a signature body of work.

Jack Gramann 2017

“It was an absolutely incredible experience. It gave me the opportunity to chase my ideas without losing them. I was able to make something and walk across the way to see how it looks in a professional gallery.”

Jack Gramann is an artist living and working in Columbus, Ohio. While earning a BFA at the Columbus College of Art & Design, Jack first starting working with glass and would spend his summers as a production glassblower completely enthralled by the process. Jack quickly moved into sculpting the figure and upon graduation began traveling the world to different schools and studios.

Expressionism, surrealism, and experimentation combine in Jack’s work to create abstracted figures that emerge to the viewer as they emerge from the glass itself. Finding beauty in the strange, familiarity in the unknown, these sculptures explore our innate ability to connect. Gramann uses the portrait as his motif, offering the viewer a connection with this non-entity. Moving around his sculptures one sees parallels of overlapping forms, the abstraction of inverted features evolving into the most recognizable pattern to mankind.

John Shoemaker

“After being in glass for 10 years I understand the value of being able to go into a studio without having to worry about the financial restraints of working with hot glass.  Fortunately, the residency took care of all the expenses for us, so we could create a new body of work and explore our ideas.  It allowed us to take risk and try those new ideas.”

John Shoemaker is an artist living in Asheboro, NC where he runs his glassblowing studio, Apothecary Architecture. These works “appropriate design elements derived from antique and scientific glass forms, seeking to elevate these features to create a modern aesthetic and conceptual content.” He is particularly interested in the intersections between science, mathematics, and art flow.

Raven Skyriver 2016

“Working in your hot shop, was such an amazing opportunity to experiment and problem solve. Without that financial pressure of studio rental and hiring help I was able to test ideas and make some completely new pieces. Forms that I had been trying to figure out how to approach but hadn’t taken the time to work through in the hot shop.”

Born in 1982, Raven Skyriver started blowing glass in high school at the age of sixteen. Raven’s mentor, Lark Dalton, taught him how to build glass blowing equipment and trained him in Venetian technique; this enabled Raven to build his own workshop. Soon thereafter, Raven joined the William Morris team at Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen’s request. There he worked for the following seven years, learning sculptural glass. Since William Morris’s retirement, Raven has continued to focus in the area of sculpture. His depiction of marine life is inspired by his island upbringing and informed by the creatures that inhabit this fragile ecosystem.

Nicolas Emeric 2015

One of our first emerging glass artist, Nick, is the current manager of Hot Sand Glass Studio and Gallery in New Jersey.

Nick creates his work near and inspired by the New Jersey shore and has traveled far to expand his education with art to create the sculptures he creates today. Nick creates imagery by engraving the surface of a glass vessel to create an atmosphere within the piece of glass.

Richard Logan

“The thought of combining glass with my current work of metal and photographic transfer was very exciting. For you to have the faith in my ability to add a medium that I had very little experience with gave me the confidence to stretch even farther outside my comfort zone. Initially my thoughts went to etching since I had some experience with that process but quickly I became excited about other possibilities such as slumping, casting, and fusing.”

Richard Logan is a multimedia artist working with photography, painting, metal, and etched and cast glass. His background in architecture, artistic experimentation, and experience living in the Caribbean inform his work.

In his current body of work, Logan combines painting, photography, metal, cut glass, and etched glass, layering fragments of each material to explore the relationships between people, music, architecture, and nature. His layered compositions allow different elements to make separate but complementary statements.

Logan has developed a unique process for combining these materials, using light, texture, photographic imagery, and gestural drawings etched into glass to create work that invites closer exploration. His multi-tile pieces require careful planning and precision when transferring and overlapping photographic images onto metal and engineering the spacing between elements.

His work initially appears simple, but reveals greater complexity as viewers look more closely. Through his process, Logan seeks to create unexpected connections and, as he describes it, “surprise myself and others with my work.”

Jake Pfeifer

One of our first emerging artists in residents was Jake.  We are happy to say he is the current owner and operator of Hot Glass Alley in New Jersey.

In 1993, at age 5, I was diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer; a malignant rhabdomyosarcoma; stage III, inoperable tumor, sitting behind my left eye and penetrating my brain. My parents were told that I had a 5 percent three-year survival. I was in the hospital for 18 months, at least once a month and often for weeks at a time.

The treatment plan was aggressive; I was given a lifetime dose of radiation to my head, and 3 different types of chemotherapy. I was so ill my doctors sent me on a “Make-a-Wish” trip with my brothers and sister. During this nightmare for my parents and me, they made funeral arrangements on at least two occasions. I have many memories of this difficult time. The experience forced an early understanding of life and death, the true meaning of friendship, commitment and determination. For example, before I was age 10, I had attended many funerals of other children with cancer with whom I became friends, as we had spent weeks in the hospital together.

Because of the initial severity of my disease, and the rare case that survives; I was 15 before I was considered a cure. I continue to experience side effects of the treatment; but, with the support of my family, the brilliance of my medical team, and the intervention of a higher power, I am alive. I’ve learned that life is short; it is important to treasure each day; to spend your days doing what you love.

Raven Skyriver

“The strongest piece that I made during my time there was a form that I had never tried, the sea turtle. This is one of the most time consuming and complicated pieces that I have made, and I honestly wouldn’t have attempted it without the stress-free time to explore.

I didn’t know what to expect having never been there before, but the studio surpassed my expectations. There was every piece of equipment that a person could need, and I think I utilized just about all of it. Everything was in good working order and your staff where talented, friendly, and helpful in every regard.”

Born in 1982, Raven Skyriver started blowing glass in high school at the age of sixteen. Raven’s mentor, Lark Dalton, taught him how to build glass blowing equipment and trained him in Venetian technique; this enabled Raven to build his own workshop. Soon thereafter, Raven joined the William Morris team at Karen Willenbrink-Johnsen’s request. There he worked for the following seven years, learning sculptural glass. Since William Morris’s retirement, Raven has continued to focus in the area of sculpture. His depiction of marine life is inspired by his island upbringing and informed by the creatures that inhabit this fragile ecosystem.

Mariel Bass

“You have enriched my life and work as an artist. I truly appreciate your help and look forward to giving back this season by sharing what I learned with the many students who will join us at St. Pete Hot Glass for glass classes offered through DMG School Project and made possible by all of you.”

Glass artist Mariel Bass holds a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art, where she studied fine art and glass. Over her professional career, Mariel has worked at glass studios in Vermont, Massachusetts and Martha’s Vineyard, and studied at well-known craft schools including Pilchuck in Washington, Haystack School of Crafts in Maine, and Corning Glass in New York. For five years, Mariel operated a recycled hot glass studio in an Eco resort in St. John, USVI. She relocated to St. Petersburg in 2012.

A former competitive figure skater, Mariel fell in love with the dance of making art with hot glass. The demanding balance of focus, physical endurance, sportsmanship and creativity were familiar to her. Honed practice in combinations of traditional “off-hand” glass-blowing processes, as well as innovative sculpting techniques, allow Mariel to create unique vessels and sculptures.

Jacob Stout

“While cost is the biggest factor to creating new work in glass, it also requires the right facility and an experienced crew. The St. Petersburg Hot Glass Workshop obviously recognizes this and put forth a tremendous effort to ensure the most deluxe studio and a highly competent staff was prepared for this residency.”

Stout received his BFA in glass from Kent State University. He studied under the now retired Henry Halem. Professor Halem studied under famed glass artist Harvey Littleton right here in Wisconsin. Stout now resides in Columbus, Ohio where he has his own hot glass studio. He shows with various glass galleries around the country and participates in the international SOFA exposition in Chicago.