Jeff Shapiro was born in the Bronx, New York in 1949. He presently works and lives in upstate New York with his wife Hinako. He studied ceramic arts while living in Japan for nine years, from 1973-1981. His work has been exhibited internationally in Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Switzerland, Canada, England, and Japan. His work can be found in numerous museum collections including The Carlo Zauli Museum, Faenza, Italy; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts; The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn New York; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York; and Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts. He has given workshops and seminars in many countries around the world, and he has built two wood fire kilns in Italy. Shapiro has exhibited widely since 1993 in national and international museums and galleries and has also published articles in a variety of ceramics and general interest publications.