Steven Schaeffer was born in Harrisburg Pennsylvania in 1969. Steven began his education in art at an early age, studying with masters in the field of ceramics in Philadelphia PA., Flagstaff AZ., and achieving his Masters in Fine Arts at Ohio University in Athens Ohio.
Hired in 2005 at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff Arizona where he currently teaches ceramics as Teaching Professor in the SOA+ Design.
Stevens’s work has been exhibited in more than one hundred exhibitions nationally and internationally and is in permanent collections across the United States and the Jingdezen Ceramic Institute in China.
His love for the four corners of the southwest United States is a major influence in his work.
In 2007 Steven’s ceramic sculpture was accepted to the “4th World Ceramic Biennial International Competition” in Korea were he received an honorable mention and the NCECA Clay National Biennial Exhibition at the Museum of Art and Craft in Louisville Kentucky.
In December of 2009 Steven traveled to Florence Italy where his work was included in the Florence Biennale..
In the summer of 2012 Steven was the curator of an international exhibition entitled “Across the Divide” that was displayed at the Coconino Center for the Arts in Flagstaff Arizona.
In 2024 Steven was invited to participate in “65 Years of Ceramics” at the Sedona Arts Center in Sedona, AZ and a group exhibition at MOCAF in Flagstaff, AZ.
For spring of 2026, Steven will do concurrent residencies in Hungary, China, and Red Lodge Montana.
River trips by boat have led me to many places. These vessels have been the carriers for my integration into the wild, which has allowed me to foster my personal connection with nature. As a result the form of “boat” or “vessel” is the inspiration core of my ideas. I’m intent on creating work that offers the notion of hope and the embodiment of strength. This is a direct response to nature itself and the risks that are inherent within it. Nature is a collection of many of the formal qualities that interest me and in turn influence my work.