Paloma Clay Studio, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico
Workshop Instructors
Fall 2025- Spring 2026
Adrian Arleo -The Narrative Figure in Clay
Adrian Arleo has spent the last 29 years living outside Missoula, Montana, with her family and a menagerie of animals. Adrian studied Art and Anthropology at Pitzer College (B.A. 1983) and received her M.F.A. in ceramics from Rhode Island School of Design in 1986. She works full-time as a ceramic sculptor, and says the following about her work:
For 40 years, my sculpture has combined human, animal and natural imagery to create a kind of emotional and poetic power. Often there's a suggestion of a vital interconnection between the human and non-human realms; the imagery arises from associations, concerns and obsessions that are at once intimate and universal. The work frequently references mythology and archetypes in addressing our vulnerability amid changing personal, environmental and political realities. By focussing on older, more mysterious ways of seeing the world, edges of consciousness and deeper levels of awareness suggest themselves.
Adrian’s work is exhibited nationally and internationally, and is in numerous public and private collections. Her work has been widely published in books, magazines, and on the internet. Adrian is a frequent workshop instructor across the US and abroad and enjoys teaching courses on figurative ceramic sculpture. More information about Adrian and her work is available at https://www.adrianarleo.com/
Richard Burkett - Throw It! Better & Beyond
Richard Burkett has worked in clay for over 50 years, and exhibited his work internationally. He taught all aspects of ceramics as a professor at San Diego State University for 30 of those years. After working as a full-time studio potter for 10 years, he received his MFA from Indiana University, then taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for three years before moving to SDSU. His clay work has alternated between functional pottery and sculptural forms throughout his career, with a focus on soda and salt glazed pottery in porcelain and stoneware. Since retiring from teaching at SDSU he has focused again on primarily being a studio potter. He has given workshops and lectures in Wales, Turkey, Ireland, Korea, Ecuador, Canada, Sweden, Finland, at universities across the U.S, and at Penland and Arrowmont craft schools. He is the author of HyperGlaze ceramics software, Ceramics: a Potter’s Handbook 6th edition, and Porcelain Masters (Lark Books) and Mythical Figures and Mucawas (co-authored with Joe Molinaro). He was endowed with NCECA’s highest award, Honorary Member status, in 2023.For more information about Richard go to: http://richardburkett.com/
Linda Christianson - What If? Ideas and Making
Linda Christianson is an independent studio potter who lives and works in rural Minnesota. Working with high-fire clays, she fires her work in a two-chambered wood kiln. She studied at Hamline University (St Paul, Minnesota), and the Banff Centre School of Fine Arts (Banff, Alberta, Canada). She exhibits nationally and internationally, including one-person exhibits in London and St. Louis. Her pieces are in numerous public and private collections, including the American Museum of Ceramic Art and the Glenboe Museum. An itinerate educator, Linda has taught at colleges and universities, including Carleton College, the University of Georgia – Athens, and the Hartford Art School. She received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the McKnight Foundation. One of her goals is to make a better cup each day. For more information about Linda and her work go to https//www.christiansonpottery.com
Tony Clennell -Living on the Edge? Si!
Tony Clennell, MFA, RCA is a second-generation potter who has taught workshops in Canada, the US, Japan, China, Korea, Wales, Italy and Portugal. He has a Master of Fine Arts from Utah State University and is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Tony has written articles for an assortment of ceramic journals including Fusion, Contact, Ceramics Monthly, Pottery Making Illustrated, Clay Times, and Studio Potter, He has exhibited in museums and collections in North America, Europe, and Asia. He is the author of Stuck in the Mud and a celebrated blogger. smokieclennell.blogspot.com
Adrienne Eliades - Throw and Tell: Pottery with Personality
Adrienne Eliades is a studio potter and educator living in Vancouver, Washington. She earned a B.A. in Studio Art from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 2008 and an MFA from University of Florida in 2016.
Adrienne has been artist-in-residence at Ash Street Project in Portland, Oregon, Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Denmark and the Bright Angle in Asheville, North Carolina.
Her works and writing are featured in numerous publications including UPPERCASE Magazine, Craft in America, Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated. Ceramics Monthly named her an Emerging Artist in 2018. In addition to maintaining a vibrant studio practice, Adrienne is the H.O.T. CLAY Program Coordinator for Idyllwild Arts Summer Program in Idyllwild, California and has presented over 30 workshops across the U.S.
See more about Sarah and her work at www.adrienneeliades.com/
Suze Lindsay: Altering Form/Designing Surface
Suze Lindsay's formal ceramic studies started with a 2 year CORE fellowship at Penland School of Craft, followed by earning an MFA at Louisiana State University. She then returned to Penland School of Craft as a long-term artist in residence. After completing those 3 years in residence, her goals focused on creating life as a full time studio potter, setting up her studio in Penland's rich craft community with her husband, and fellow potter, Kent McLaughlin. Working with stoneware clay, Lindsay subtly suggests figure and character by manipulating forms after they are thrown. An integral part of her work includes surface decoration to enhance her pottery forms by patterning and painting slips and glazes for salt firing. Her mark making is strongly influenced by studying historical ceramics from cultures in Japan, Crete, Chile, China, and Native North American. Lindsay has said, "I make things to entice the user to take pleasure in everyday activities, inviting participation, promoting hospitality.” Currently, she owns and operates Fork Mountain Pottery. She lives and works in the mountains of western North Carolina. You can find more about Suze and her work at forkmountainpottery.com/
Claudia Olds Goldie: The Expressive Figure
Claudia Olds Goldie is a mid-career studio artist and educator. She presently teaches figurative ceramics at Harvard Ceramics and teaches workshops across the US and in Mexico.
Olds Goldie is a Mass Cultural Council finalist. She received a Kiln God Residency from Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts, a residency fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center, a nomination for a Boston Foundation Brother Thomas fellowship, and a 2025 Best Sculpture award from the State of Clay National Juried exhibition. She has shown nationally in shows such as the NCECA Biennial in Houston, SOFA Chicago, and “Contemporary Figurative Sculpture” at Santa Fe Clay Gallery.
Her work has been published in The Figure in Clay by Cristina Cordova, 500 Figures in Clay, 500 Figures in Clay Vol. 2 by Nan Smith, Sculpting Clay, and Low Fire: Other Ways to Work in Clay, both by Leon Nigrosh, and in Ceramics Monthly, Clay Times, and American Craft magazines.
To see videos of Claudia speaking about her work go to:
Video: In the Studio with Claudia Olds Goldie
Video: Arts and Ideas with Sue Swinand, A Mother Daughter Journey
Sarah Pike - Celebrating Slab Built Tableware
Sarah Pike is a full-time potter living and making functional slab-built wares in Fernie, BC, Canada, the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa. She studied ceramics at Alberta College of Art and Design, University of Colorado, and the University of Minnesota. Sarah is a proud member of the Canadian ceramic collective, Make & Do. Sarah teaches workshops about her slab building techniques worldwide and shows internationally with recent solo exhibitions at Akar Gallery in Iowa, Good Earth Gallery in Washington and Schaller Gallery in Michigan.
Sarah is very interested in making stamps and texture tools and pressing them into soft clay. Lately, she is obsessing over the ogee curve and how it tessellates across a form. Her natural habitat is her studio, but if she isn’t making pots, she is probably out exploring the mountains around her home by ski or bike. She is generally thinking about snacks.
Sarah’s pottery is inspired by many things, including the landscape around her home, the rich history of pottery, but also by antique tinware, textured metal, interesting fabric patterns, and the old things you might find in barns.
You can fine more about Sarah at www.sarahpikepottery.com/
George Rodriguez - Masks for Any Occasion
Born and raised in the border city of El Paso, TX, George Rodriguez creates highly ornamented, ceramic sculptures, often underlined by a connection to sociopolitical themes. His guardian figures, tomb sculptures, and installations, commemorate and build community. His most recent projects include a permanent installation at the new Kansas City International Airport, a community tile mural at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, and an outdoor public sculpture at CASA of Maryland, an immigration advocacy organization in Baltimore. His work has shown extensively throughout the U.S. including the Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Canton Art Museum, Canton, OH; amongst others. His sculptures are part of the collections of the National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL; the University of
Washington's Paul G. Allen College of Computer Science and Engineering, Seattle, WA; Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C. and the National Museum in Stockholm, Sweden amongst others. Rodriguez holds a BFA from the University of Texas El Paso and an MFA from the University of Washington, Seattle. He is an Assistant Professor at the
Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia and was featured on PBS Craft in America "Storytellers" episode. For more information about George and his work visit https://georgerodriguez.net/