Green Task Force Member Biographies

Liz Duarte - Green Task Force, long time member
Ceramics Artist & Teacher
Over the years working as a studio technician and teacher, I have gained an awareness and appreciation for both the physical and logistical requirements inherent to the operation of a Ceramics studio. Community involvement and shared responsibility have always been integral to the structure of my lessons and studio planning. My goal is to recognize student needs and strengths and create a sense of investment in the shared experience focusing on intentionality and personal responsibility. I serve on the board of the Washington Clay Arts Association as the Sustainability Coordinator and have been working with NCECA’s Green Task Force for over 10 years. I have an MFA in Ceramics from 2003 and just received my Master of Arts in Teaching. I look forward to working with individuals, organizations and institutions to cultivate practices such as repurposing studio waste so that we can make impactful changes to the systems and studios we operate within. 

Kelsey Barton - Green Task Force Student Representative
MFA Student, Ceramist
Kelsey Barton is a first-year MFA student in ceramics at the University of Florida, guided by a deep appreciation for the natural world. Geological formations and the entropy of natural processes are two driving inspirations of her current work. She believes that instilling sustainable studio practices early in a student’s education can have a lasting impact, shaping the way they engage with ceramics for a lifetime. She has felt most connected to the environment through her connection to clay, fueling an ongoing pursuit of innovative, sustainable approaches to her practice. Kelsey brings a student perspective to NCECA's Green Task Force and has experience mobilizing students through her former role as president of the University of South Florida's clay club, Lil' Muddy's Fun Bunch. Through her role in GTF, she hopes to inspire art students to think more critically about their environmental impact and make more sustainable choices both inside and outside of the studio. https://www.kelseybarton.com/ @kelseybartonart

Julia Galloway - Green Task Force Special Projects Hellion, Green Learning Community Co-Leader
Professor of Art, University of Montana, Missoula
Julia Galloway is a studio potter and professor of ceramics at the University of Montana, Missoula. Julia has exhibited across the United States, Canada, and Asia and her work is included in the collections of the Renwick Gallery - Washington DC, Long Beach Art Museum - Long Beach CA, the Ceramics Research Center at the Arizona State Art Museum, American Museum of Ceramic Art - Pomona, CA, and Alfred Ceramics Art Museum in New York. She was recently awarded a United States Artist Grant and named a Distinguished Scholar at the University of Montana. About her Artwork Julia states “My recent studio work is rooted in environmental issues. I came to work on the Green Task Force to educate myself so my studio practice itself is as aware of environmental issues as the content of the pottery I am making. I hope to better understand how we use and can reduce the consumption of materials and maintain effective art and pottery making.” www.endangered-species-project. @galloway_pottery

Robert Harrison - Green Task Force Founding Father - Emeritus
Ceramic Artist, Author, Site-Specific Architectural Ceramics; Commissions and Installations
Robert Harrison is a practicing artist who lives and works in Helena, Montana, USA. He has built his 45 year career in the site-specific large-scale architectural sculpture realm along with smaller-scale studio activity. He holds BFA and MFA degrees in Ceramics and is a member of the IAC (International Academy of Ceramics, Geneva), WABA (World Association of Brick Artists), RCA (Royal Canadian Academy of Arts) and is a Fellow of NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramics Arts). His exhibition and installation record is extensive and global. Robert’s 35+ year association with the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts began in the summer of 1982 as a summer Resident Artist and from 1983-85 he was a full-time Resident Artist. In 1993 he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Bray and served as President of the Board from 1998-2004, overseeing the first capital campaign at the Bray and construction of new year-round resident artists studios and resident center. He continues to serve on the facilities committee. Robert began attending NCECA conferences in 1973. He began his work with the NCECA Board of Directors in 1993 as a Director-at-Large, followed by NCECA Publications Director in 1995 and his appointment as NCECA President from 2004-2010. During his tenure as NCECA President, he initiated the NCECA Green Task Force (GTF) and proudly continues his service to NCECA as a member of  the GTF. Robert is currently working on several large-scale site-specific projects both nationally and internationally along with his ongoing exploration of studio work.  IAC, RCA, WABA, NCECA Fellow. Roberts book Sustainable Ceramics: A Practical Guide was co-published by Bloomsbury (London) and the American Ceramic Society (Ohio) in the fall of 2013.  www.robertharrison.com

Alex Hibbitt - Green Task Force Member and NCECA Board Liaison
Studio Artist,  Professor Emerita Ohio Univer­sity and Secretary of the NCECA Board
Alex Hibbitt makes objects and installations that investigate the mediation of experience through technology, the intersection of art, design and craft and the implications of labor in the handmade and the manufactured. Her interest in the politics of Matter and Material Culture drives her participation in the Green Task Force. Alex is Professor Emerita of Ceramics at Ohio Univer­sity and currently the Secretary of the NCECA Board and Board Liaison to the Green Task Force. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, includ­ing at The Mattress Factory Museum in Pittsburgh, PA, The Decorative Arts Museum in Prague, The Weston Gallery, Cincinnati and The Victoria & Albert Museum in London. After completing her BA (hons) 3D design (ceramics) at Camberwell College of Arts in London, she was awarded a NUFFIC scholarship to study at The Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, earning a Higher National Diploma. She has an MFA from the NYSCC at Alfred University, New York State. Awards include 3 Ohio Arts Council Awards and a McKnight Foundation residency. She is a founding member of Workshop, an artist writing group which met yearly at The Ragdale Foundation in Chicago to create and workshop a series of writings around the field of ceramics. 

Brian Kohl - Founder of the Green Task Force, and GTF Communications and Outreach
Assistant Professor of Art, Riverside City College, California and Avid River Guide
Brian Kohl is a ceramic artist and Assistant Professor of Ceramics at Riverside City College in Southern California. In the summers he works as a whitewater rafting guide currently on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. In under-graduate school Kohl became aware of water issues in the west through a letter writing campaign for the Wilderness Heritage Act in California to designate 246 rivers in the state as Wild and Scenic. It was this catalyst that led him to research art as activism and paved the path to creating installations dealing with the number of dams in various states across the country. His work includes imagery from hydro-electric projects, pipes, and water fixtures juxtaposed against landscapes and the natural world.  About his work Brian says “The promotion of awareness and activism with regards to the natural environment and environmental issues is a voice that needs to be heard. I believe I can make this happen through my work as a ceramic artist.”
Brian began attending NCECA conferences and becoming involved in the organization through presenting videos at the conference, Break out Session Programming, and the creation of the NCECA Podcast.  This led him to his role as the Communications Director on the NCECA Board of Directors from 2009-2013, and has been an active member of the Green Task Force since its inception in 2008. Brian’s goals for the future include the greening of studio practices specifically for the community and college settings. He is working on figuring out alternative disposal and uses for the abundance of bisque/clay work left over at the end of each semester, reduction of water use, active clay recycling, lowering the firing temperature to reduce fuel use, uses a “no paper towel” policy in the studio, and will continue to find other areas within the studio to create a low to no waste policy at the college.  www.briankohlceramics.com. @brianjameskohl

Emma Logan - Green Task Force Member and Engagement Coordinator
Artist and Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley, Mills College, and Solano Community College
An artist and educator based in Sonoma County, CA, I combine a research and process driven practice to make sculpture and installation work using clay, wool, and paper. The tactile nature of these mediums is an important link to my areas of focus: geographic identity, land use and access, and sensory memory, all with an agricultural throughline. Equally as important is sensory engagement with the viewer through touch, etc.
I joined the NCECA Green Task Force through the Green Learning Community in 2022. My work and life values are centered around intersectional sustainability - environment, social justice, equity, and economy - and I am very thankful to have the opportunity to be part of a collaborative group focused on sharing resources and information for clay nerds interested in expanding the sustainability of their studios, classrooms, and practices.

Janna Longacre - Green Task Force Member
Studio Artist / Professor Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Boston
As a sculptor / site-specific installation artist. Her work is narrative in nature.. using clay / ceramics and other manufactured and found materials. Janna’s ideas are heavily influenced by her childhood life raised on a Pennsylvania farm and by her African cross continent travel in 1973-74 at age 21.  These travels profoundly influence her perspective in art making and teaching. She has received numerous grants including from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artist Foundation and has exhibited in many museums and non-profit locations.  Her publication record includes Art in America, American Ceramics, Sign of the Times, New York Times and Boston Globe.  Her article, “Mirages”, about her experiences in Africa was published in Craft International Magazine. She is also the author of Alexander Corazzo / Le Roy Turner: American Abstract-Creation. Janna is a member of the International Ceramics Academy (IAC) and is a Board of Director at Watershed Center for the Arts and The Quarry, Contemporary Art Center. As Professor at MassArt, for 48 years, Janna developed her courses to combine technical instruction with cultural, environmental, and social issues.  In 2009, she created her course Objects that Change Lives, which was inspired by the UN supported book, Designing a World that Works for All.   The focus of the course continues to be  related to food, water, sustainability, health & shelter. Since 2000, Janna has given students direct cultural contact while teaching her courses in Cuba, Vietnam, Brazil and Japan..  Janna states “Being educated as a woman through the struggle of the Vietnam War and fight for Civil Rights, as a first generation college student raised on a farm, and now living in a world facing numerous environmental, social and political crises, has left me determined to make a difference..  I don’t take anything for granted and look at every aspect of art and life from multiple perspectives.
https://jannalongacre.com 

Kerry Kanda Meyer - Green Task Force Member
Resource Scientist and Artist
Kerry Kaneda Meyer is a ceramic/mixed-media Science/Climate Artist. She holds a Master of Forest/Environmental Science from the Yale School of the Environment and a Master of Philosophy in Environmental and Natural Resources Economics from Yale University. She has lived and worked in Botswana, where she researched the economic value of the protected areas and national parks. She has also researched water economics in the Pacific Northwestern US.  She has worked in the Natural Resources/Environmental Science and Economics sector since 1995.
These experiences, coupled with being raised in the Sierra Nevada Mountains around Lake Tahoe, are the driving forces behind her work. She thinks about the micro-level, such as closely examining the intricate structure and inherent complexity of individual plants and animals to amplify the observed patterns, symmetries, and textures. As well as more macro-level  scales like rivers, tidepools, and other geologic creations along with interconnected systems, such as food webs, watersheds, and terrestrial and aquatic habitats.  She strives to embrace a “sense of place” in her work and frequently utilizes locally excavated rocks and minerals. Her creations range from a meditation on botanical forms and symmetries to the tension between the organic and man-made. Kerry aims to produce work that either highlights a concern or prompts a conversation about current environmental and ecosystem issues. Her current focus is centered on the concept that “Everything is Connected.” She has been an Artist-in-Residence at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts on Deer Isle, Maine. Her work is held in private collections nationally and internationally. www.kerrykanedameyerceramics.com @kerrykm_ceramics

Tybre Newcomer - Green Task Force  Member
Professor and Sculptor
Tybre Newcomer received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Missouri State University and his Master of Fine Arts from the Rochester Institute of Technology-School for American Crafts in Ceramics and Ceramic Sculpture. He has taught at several institutions before joining the faculty at Spokane Falls Community College in 2016. Previously, he was an Artist in Residence at the Tainan National University of the Arts in Tainan, Taiwan and at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX. In addition to teaching, he maintains an active studio and exhibits his work nationally. https://tybrenewcomer.com/home.html @tybrenewcomer

Derek Reeverts - Green Task Force Special Projects Hellion
Senior Teaching Lab Specialist, University of Florida
I grew up in rural Illinois surrounded by faith and farming.  I have 25+ years experience in pedagogy and both functional and sculptural ceramics, focusing on miniature and figurative.  I presently work as the Senior Teaching Lab Specialist at the University of Florida helping instruct both graduate and undergraduate students in the use of equipment, new technology, materials, toxicology, process, and kiln building.  My work focuses on the inherent foibles of human nature and how expression and predicament interplays with idiomatic language.  I am also a father, husband, and avid horror fan.  
The Green Task Force was a great fit for me due to a nearly life-long love affair with the natural world and a sense of urgency to help people understand the importance of sustainable practice/living.  The rurality of my rearing allowed me an immersive relationship with both wild areas and agriculture. From as early as my time as an undergraduate, I focused much of my time on environmental action and eventually incorporated that energy and knowledge into my studio practice. In addition to my work, I am presently researching carbon footprint creation by ceramic production and process. I strive to create a carbon neutral studio practice and to help integrate this sustainable awareness into standard studio curriculum and technological instruction. https://derekreeverts.com  @derek_reeverts

Eliza Weber - Green Task Force Member
Long Term Resident, Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, Montana
Eliza Weber completed her MFA at Arizona State University and BFA at The University of Montana. She has completed short residencies at Medalta in Alberta, Canada, The Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, China, and Open Air at the Flathead Lake Biological Station. Eliza was also an Artist in Residence at Pottery Northwest in Seattle, Washington. Returning home, she was Director of Education at the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art in Great Falls, Montana. She served on the boards of NCECA and the Ceramics Research Center, presently serving on the NCECA Green Task Force. Eliza is currently a Long-Term Resident at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana.
Eliza states “My current work explores materiality and the histories of objects, often combining dyed paper pulp and found objects with ceramics. Works consider value structures influenced by the curation of domestic spaces, management of natural spaces, and product displays. Arrangements consider the impact of consumerism and trend, in search for an understanding of interrelationships with intent for connection.”
I have been interested in the Green Task Force throughout years of attending NCECA conferences. I recently joined the task force with interest in the impacts of material use and ceramic processes beyond the maker and object. With shared concern in the immediacy of environmental matters, I am interested in conversations, research, and education regarding these topics and the significance of them. @_elizaweber  www.elizaweber.com

Chanda Zea - NCECA Green Task Force Chair
Instructional Technician II, University of Washington, Seattle WA, USA.  NCECA Programs Director 2021 - 2024
Chanda Zea is an artist, mentor, and maker with a deep love of building community through clay. Her studio practice ranges from large installations to intimate functional objects. Her work is a continuous balance between “less is more”,  and the quiet joy found in the repetitive process of squishing clay between her fingers. She seeks ways to use ceramic materials that would otherwise be deposited in a landfill.
Chanda’s work with the NCECA Green Task Force is a component of her holistic approach to life. “Every action we take, every material we use, has an impact on our individual lives as well as the planetary whole. I continue to explore and expand what that means to my artistic practice. How do concept and process collide and merge to create beauty and sustainability?” www.chandazea.com.  @chandazea