CV
A CV offers one way of tracing a creative life—through education, exhibitions, positions, and accomplishments—but it captures only part of the experience that has shaped my practice.
My work has developed through years of making, teaching, experimentation, and an ongoing engagement with material. As a ceramicist, my experience moves between the intimacy of the wheel and the physical demands of large-scale construction, encompassing wheel throwing, handbuilding, casting and mold making, glaze formulation and testing, kiln firing, and the operation and management of my own ceramics studio. Teaching has been an extension of that practice, requiring not only technical fluency, but the ability to translate material knowledge into different ways of learning and making.
That material vocabulary extends beyond clay. My training and practice have included welding and metal fabrication, glassblowing, woodworking, and mold making—each expanding my understanding of structure, process, tools, and the particular intelligence of materials.
Running parallel to my studio practice is a substantial career in commercial photography. For more than fifteen years, I worked professionally across photography and production, creating imagery for projects ranging from small, independently produced shoots to large-scale commercial campaigns for regional, national, and international markets. Working across product, food, health and wellness, architecture, portraiture, and lifestyle photography taught me to move fluidly between creative vision and execution—to conceptualize an idea, build the team and environment necessary to realize it, solve problems as they arise, and carry a project through to its final expression.
These experiences do not exist as separate chapters for me. Photography taught me to see; sculpture taught me to understand space; ceramics taught me patience, material intelligence, and process; teaching taught me how to share that knowledge with others. Together, they form a much broader creative practice than the chronology of a CV alone can convey.
The CV below offers the record. The work, knowledge, and experience behind it tell the larger story.
CV
SHAE ROCCO
San Francisco, CA
415-336-5008,
EDUCATION
2019 MFA, California College of the Arts (CCA), Sculpture, Incomplete.
2017 Continuing Education, Otis College, Ceramics
2016 BFA, San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), Sculpture
2010-2015 Continuing Education, City College of San Francisco, Ceramics
INTERNSHIP
2016 San Francisco Arts Commission, Gallery Intern, Guest services manager.
FELLOWSHIP
2013 Yerba Buena Cultural Arts (YBCA) Fellowship, Field of Inquiry, Future Soul Think Tank, San Francisco CA.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2024-Present Fine Art Ceramicist.
2024-Present Fine Art Landscape Photographer
2017 Commercial Studio, Teaching Ceramic Classes
2005-Present Commercial Photographer– Portraiture, culture, lifestyle, interior architecture.
2002-2005 Photographers Assistant and Studio Manager.
2000-2002 Robertson Stephens, Investment Firm– Technical support, computer networking.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2026 Group Show, Cherry Street Pier, Philadelphia PA, How Water Moves
2017 Group Show, Arena 1 Gallery, Santa Monica Art Studios,13th Annual Open Studios
2017 Solo Exhibition, Hanger Gallery, Santa Monica Art Studios, CA
2016 Group Exhibition, DeYoung Museum, “Sanctuary”
2016 Group Exhibition, SFAI, Diego Rivera Gallery, “To: Insecurity”
2016 Group Exhibition, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA, “Solidarity-Unity-Acceptance”
2015 Solo Sculpture Exhibition, Black Bird, San Francisco, CA.
2014 Group Ceramic Exhibition, Community College of San Francisco, Fort Mason Campus
2013 Group Exhibition, Yerba Buena Cultural Arts, “Future Soul”
2013 Group Photo Exhibition, Human Rights Campaign, Era Art, Oakland, CA.
2013 Group Sculpture Exhibition, Community College of San Francisco, Fort Mason Campus
AWARDS AND HONORS
2016 Best in Show, SFAI, Graduate Exhibition.
2016 Recognition of Academic Achievement, SFAI, Graduate class.
2016 Dennis Patrick Gallagher Award for Excellence in Ceramic Sculpture, SFAI.
2016 Best in Show for 3D work, De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, Student Showcase.
2014 SFAI Grant.
2014 SFAI Presidential Scholarship.
ARTWORK CONTRIBUTIONS
2026 MCDS Art Fundraiser, 2nd Grade, Photo Collage
2024 MCDS, Auction Fundraiser, Donation of Photographic Print
2014 Human Rights Campaign – Photographic artwork, Fundraiser.
2013 National Center for Lesbian Rights – Photographic artwork, Fundraiser.
2013 City College of San Francisco – Photography Services, Support for 2013 ceramic summer enrollment
2013 Lycée Français, San Francisco – Photography Services, Fundraiser for financial educational assistance.
2012 Shanti Project – Photographic portrait services donated for cancer survivors.
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
2026 MCDS Co-Chair, Book Fair Day
2026 MCDS Book Fair, Artistic Media and Visual Design
2025 MCDS Co-Chair, Kite Day, Family and Friends hosted social event
2025 MCDS Art Fundraiser, 1st Grade, Ceramic Mobile
2019 SFAI, Guest speaker, Methodology of mold making and sculptural integrity.
2016 SFAI, Guest speaker, Commercial Photography, Summer Youth Photography Course
2015 Potrero Ceramic Mural, Youth Engagement Project, J.D. Beltran, SF Arts Commission.
2015 SFAI, Guest Presenter, Ceramic Mold-making Process, Invited by SFAI Professor Wanxin Zhang.
2015 United Playaz, Artistic Photographic Processes for at risk youth, Invited by United Playas President Rudy Corpuz.