Paul Sacaridiz
Paul Sacaridiz lives and works in Deer Isle, Maine, where he is executive director of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. As an artist, his work encompasses the making of sculpture and leadership within academic and nonprofit arenas. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Charles Allis Art Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, and the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, among others. He has been the recipient of numerous artist residencies, including the Ragdale Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, and the Arts/Industry Program at Kohler Company. He is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics and has served on the board of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). Prior to leading Haystack, he was professor and chair in the Department of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sacaridiz received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1998 and his BFA from Alfred University in 1993.
Nicole Burisch
Nicole Burisch Nicole Burisch is a critic and curator based in Montreal, Canada. Her writing has been published in periodicals, No More Potlucks, FUSE Magazine, dpi: Feminist Journal of Art and Digital Culture, Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture, Cahiers métiers d’art-Craft Journal, and by the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, Stride Gallery, and the Richmond Art Gallery. Her research (with Anthea Black) into curatorial strategies for politically engaged craft practices is included in milestone publications, The Craft Reader (Berg) and Extra/ordinary: Craft and Contemporary Art (Duke University Press), and together they are editing the forthcoming publication Craft on Demand: The New Politics of the Handmade. She holds a BFA in ceramics from the Alberta College of Art and Design, and an MA in art history from Concordia University. From 2014-2016, she was a core fellow critic-in-residence with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Sandie Zilker
HCCC’s 2014 Texas Master, Sandie Zilker, has taught for over 40 years at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Glassell School of Art. Head of the Jewelry and Enamel Department, she also serves as Glassell’s coordinator of student events and exhibitions. She has taught at Penland School of Crafts, Arrowmont School, and the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Zilker has twice served on the Board of The Society of North American Goldsmiths and co-chaired the organization’s 2010 Annual Conference in Houston. She served as the liaison for Metalsmith Magazine and now serves on their Exhibition Committee. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collections of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin; Designmuseo, Finland; and Norden Feldske Kundiondustrimuseum, Norway. Zilker received her MFA in metalsmithing from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1974 and her BFA in design and metalsmithing from the University of Houston in 1972.