Jurors

Jinsik Yoo  (He/Him) is a sculptor and painter from Daejeon, South Korea. He primarily works with ceramics to create figures that abstract the human form, exploring desire, queer relationships, and the risks and rewards of otherness. He received his BFA in graphic design from Konkuk University in Seoul. After working as a graphic designer for three years, he returned to Konkuk to complete graduate studies in ceramics. In 2017, Yoo moved to the United States to pursue his MFA at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, where he completed a year-long residency at the Wellsville Creative Arts Center. In 2020, he then moved to Brooklyn, New York, to work as a fabrication assistant for Simone Leigh. Following his residency at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Yoo taught at New York University in New York and the University of Georgia in Athens, GA, while continuing his artistic practice. In January 2024, Yoo held his first solo exhibition in New York at Greenwich House Pottery’s Jane Hartsook Gallery. He presented his first solo show in South Korea in July 2025 at Seoul’s DrawingRoom Gallery, where he is represented. Yoo’s paintings and ceramic sculptures have been exhibited nationally and internationally. In Fall 2025, he joined the University of South Dakota as an Assistant Professor of Ceramics.

Jenn Kaplan(They/she) is an Assistant Professor of Ceramics at Warren Wilson College and in the 2025 Center for Craft Teaching Artist Cohort. They are on the board of Queer Atmosphere and recently presented at WEDGE, Australian Ceramics Triennale. Jenn was a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, an instructor at the Knoxville Museum of Art, has attended residencies with the Museum of Infinite Outcomes, Cub Creek Foundation and Armory Art Center. They teach Ceramic Chemistry, Wheel Throwing and Altering, Soda-Firing and Figure Sculpture. Jenn earned their MFA from Notre Dame and BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago, in between they were Lead Instructor at Penguin Foot Pottery and taught Urban Gardening at Marwen in Chicago. Jenn has shown in the Snite Museum of Art, Red Lodge Clay Center, Companion Gallery, Kansas City Clay Guild, Saratoga Arts Center, Queen City Clay, Relay Ridge Gallery, Appalachian Center for Craft, the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center as well as others primarily in the midwest and South East.