This September, we’re excited to shine the spotlight on Steve Belz, our Teacher of the Month, and celebrate the dedication, enthusiasm, and heart he brings to the educational art community on the Olympic Peninsula.
Steve Belz is a sculptor, educator, and ceramic artist whose work investigates the intersection of contemporary life and the natural world, seeking to foster deeper connections with others and nature. Steve seeks to balance conceptual inquiry and formal beauty in his work.
Born and raised in Olympia, Washington, Steve developed a lasting reverence for the environment that continues to inform and inspire his creative practice. He earned a B.S. in Environmental Studies from The Evergreen State College before moving to a small mountain town in Colorado, where he spent more than a decade living and working as a potter and carpenter. His commitment to both art and education led him back to academia, culminating in an M.F.A. from Kansas State University.
In 2015, Steve returned to Washington State to lead the ceramics program at Peninsula College in Port Angeles, where he is a tenure-track professor of art. His work has been exhibited widely, and he remains active in presenting workshops and lectures across the country.
During the 2025–26 academic year, Steve was on a professional leave of absence “sabbatical”. Steve spent 3 months in Japan researching its art and culture and two months as an artist in residence at The Clay Studio of Missoula, MT. He is now back in Washington State and will resume as a professor at Peninsula College.