Paloma Clay Studio, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico
Workshop Instructors
Fall 2026-Spring 2027
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
Andréa Keys Connell -
Figures in Context: Building Narrative Sculpture in Clay
Andréa Keys Connell (b. 1980) is a Professor of Ceramics in the Department of Art at Appalachian State University. Her work has been featured in national and international publications, including The New York Times and Colossal, and exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the United States and abroad, from New York City to Goryeong, South Korea. Since 2009, she has presented more than 20 solo exhibitions and is represented by Blue Spiral 1 (Asheville, NC), Visions West (Montana), and J. Mackey Gallery (East Hampton, NY).
Alongside her studio practice, Connell is actively engaged in public art commissions and collaborative projects. Her recent collaboration with Susan Alexandra in New York City was featured in Wirecutter. A dedicated educator, she has taught figure-sculpting workshops at institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Penland School of Craft, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, and Centre d’arts Rozynski. She has also been invited to demonstrate at major conferences and symposia, including NCECA, the Women Working in Clay Symposium, and The Bascom’s Annual Clay Symposium. To learn more about Andréa's work visit https://andreakeys.com/
At the heart of it all, Andréa simply loves making things.
Josh DeWeese - The Character of a Pot
Josh DeWeese is a Professor of Art teaching ceramics at Montana State University in Bozeman, where he is currently serving as the Director of the School of Art. From 1993-2006, DeWeese served as Resident Director of the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana, and he holds an MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred, and a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute. He is the co-founder of the International Wild Clay Research Project at Montana State University, promoting the use of local materials and sustainable practices in the ceramic arts. In 2022, DeWeese received a Montana Governor’s Award in the Arts. He has exhibited and taught workshops internationally, and his work is included in numerous public and private collections.
Alessandro Gallo: Strange Encounters: Narratives in Clay
Alessandro Gallo represents the silent life happening around him using human/animal hybrids. He uses the animal head as an expressive tool, something between a mask and a caricature that exaggerates inner features. Alessandro combines these heads with the silent language of our body and the cultural codes of fashion in order to portray specific individuals, the subcultures they belong to, and ultimately, the common habitat we all share.
Alessandro Gallo was born in 1974 in Genoa, Italy, and is now based in Helena, Montana, in the United States. After studying Law at the University of Genoa, Gallo moved to London, where he studied at Saint Martin’s College of Art and at Chelsea School of Art and Design. Alessandro has shown internationally, and his work was in the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. In 2012, he was awarded a first-place grant from the Virginia A. Groot Foundation. In 2014 and 2016, he had solo shows at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York. In 2018, Alessandro was selected as a Demonstrating Artist for NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts).
Julia Galloway: Bringing Together Making and Thinking
Julia Galloway is a potter and Regents Professor at the University of Montana. She has taught hands-on workshops for the past 20 years and enjoys helping students develop personalized surfaces and forms. She has also taught courses in professional practices and the history of pottery. Julia has exhibited widely and has served on the boards of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and the Archie Bray Foundation, as well as Director-at-Large for NCECA. Julia was awarded a USA Fellowship and was named the 2023 Artist of the Year by Ceramics Arts Network. See more about Julia and her work at https://juliagalloway.com/
Bill Griffith: Mug-O-Rama!
Bill Griffith is an active clay artist, educator and former Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts administrator. He has exhibited and taught workshops nationally at craft schools, universities and art centers, and his work is included in numerous public and private collections. He is a recipient of a Tennessee Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship. The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) awarded him the Outstanding Achievement Award for his contributions to the field of ceramics. See more about Bill and his ceramics on his website: www.billgriffithclay.com.
Martha Grover: Altered Elegance: Throwing & Transforming Functional Clay
Martha Grover is a functional potter, living in Bethel, Maine, creating thrown and altered porcelain pieces. She attended Bennington College, where she received her undergraduate degree in Architecture. After a fifth year in ceramics at Syracuse University, Martha went on to receive her MFA in ceramics from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
After graduate school, she was awarded multiple residencies and fellowships, including the Fogelberg Fellowship at the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, Sage Scholarship and Taunt Fellowship at the Archie Bray Foundation, and a yearlong residency at Red Lodge Clay Center. Her work can be found at many galleries across the country. Her work has been published in Ceramics Monthly, Clay Times, Pottery Making Illustrated, 500 Pitchers, 500 Platters and Chargers, and 500 Vases. It was the cover feature of Ceramic Monthly’s May 2010 issue.
More information about Martha and her work is available at: https://www.marthagrover.com/
Kathy King: Let’s Talk – A Conversation Between Form and Imagery
Kathy King is an active studio artist in the Boston area, an instructor, and the Director of the Ceramics Program and Visual Arts Initiatives at Harvard's Office for the Arts. Before returning to Boston in 2008, she was an Associate Professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA. She received her BA in Studio Art with a major in Ceramics from Connecticut College, New London, CT, and her MFA from the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. She has given workshops and lectures at over eighty-five colleges, schools, and art centers throughout the USA. The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts featured King as an Emerging Artist in 1999, a Demonstrating Artist in 2002, a co-juror for the 2012 National Student Juried Show, and a co-juror for the Emerging Artist Fellowships in 2025. She was awarded a Brother Thomas Fellowship by the Boston Foundation, Boston, MA, and a Craft Schools US Residency at the Shigaraki Ceramics Cultural Center. Other residencies include the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana, the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Maine, and the Winter Residency at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. She has served on the Board of Directors of Studio Potter, The Marks Project, and hosts the podcast “For Flux Sake" with Matt and Rose Katz. Learn more on King’s website.
Suze Lindsay: Inspired: Árbol de la Vida
Suze Lindsay's formal ceramic studies began 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 a 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 is surface decoration, enhancing 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.
More information about Suze and her work may be found at https://www.forkmountainpottery.com/
Deb Schwartzkopf: Cross-Pollination
Deb Schwartzkopf is a Seattle-based ceramic artist, educator, and community builder with over 20 years of experience working in clay. She earned her MFA from Penn State and has taught at universities and art centers across the U.S. and internationally. Her adventurous career includes residencies from Montana to Germany and China.
As a studio artist, Deb’s work focuses on creating vibrant, purposeful tableware that invites daily use and connection. She approaches clay with both practiced skill and playful intuition, drawing inspiration from the subtle details of the natural world—bird colors, shifting shadows, and the tactile experience of holding a well-crafted cup or pitcher. For Deb, making pottery is a dialogue between intention and exploration, form and function.
Passionate about fostering community, Deb founded Rat City Studios in 2013 and Rain City Clay in 2022, spaces dedicated to creative collaboration and experiential learning. She believes that a thriving studio practice is nourished by connection—whether through teaching workshops, mentoring artists, or sharing life with friends, family, and neighbors. Her work is collected nationally, widely published, and she was honored as Ceramics Monthly’s Ceramic Artist of the Year in 2019.
Busy like a bee, Deb’s life buzzes with making, teaching, mentoring, and nurturing tomatoes in her little greenhouse–all fueling the energy and joy that infuse her pottery.
Sue Tirrill: Pots in Place: Commemorating Time, Place, and Memory with Functional Surface Design
Born and raised in Red Lodge, Montana, Sue Tirrell holds an AA from Cottey College in Nevada, MO and a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Her work draws inspiration from her experiences living in Montana and the West, her fascination with animals, and her interest in folk art, illustrated fairy tales, and vintage kitsch. Sue’s work has been exhibited widely in the US, Canada, and Australia. She teaches ceramics and multimedia workshops across the country and internationally — from college classrooms and museums to one-room schoolhouses. Sue lives and works north of Yellowstone National Park, in Montana’s Paradise Valley.
"I came to clay as a college freshman, intent on studying illustration, but was won over by the prospect of activating sculptural and functional ceramic objects with narrative surface design. My pots employ mythic animal imagery, crisp design, and riotous color to bring playfulness, character, and storytelling to daily kitchen rituals and special occasions."
More information about Sue and her work is available at: https://www.suetirrellceramics.com/
Tip Toland - Heads and Hands
Tip Toland lives in Vaughn, Washington. She received her MFA from Montana State University in 1981. Tip is a full-time studio artist and a part-time instructor in Seattle. She conducts workshops across the United States, Europe, Australia, Mexico, Taiwan, and the Middle East. Traver Gallery in Seattle, WA represents her work.
Her work is in numerous public and private collections, including The Yellowstone Art Museum, The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian, Nelson Atkins Museum, The Crocker Museum, St. Petersburg Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Eleanor Wilson Museum at Hollins University, Kohler Arts Center, Portland Art Museum, Racine Art Museum, Yingee Ceramics Museum, Icheon Museum of Ceramics, Daum Museum.
More information about Tip and her work is available at: http://www.tiptoland.com/
Joe Wilkinson - Clay in Context
Joe Wilkinson is a Seattle-based ceramic sculptor whose work explores the tension between structure and chaos, drawing inspiration from patterns in nature—from river systems and neural networks to cosmic forces. He received his BFA from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and his MFA from Michigan State University. Joe first discovered his love of clay in 2008 while studying at Colorado Mountain College.Since moving to Seattle in 2016, he has been part of vibrant creative communities at Pottery Northwest, Seward Park Clay Studio, and Rat City Studios, where he now lives and works with his partner, studio potter Deborah Schwartzkopf. In addition to his ceramic work, Joe is a skilled metal fabricator, crafting custom staircases and fixtures.Joe’s sculptures often grow off the table or wall, revealing traces of movement and transformation. He works intuitively with coils and slabs, responding to the clay as forms evolve. Drawing from cosmology, biology, and geology, his work invites viewers into a state of curiosity—a space where patterns emerge, shift, and open up new possibilities.
You can see more about Joe at https://joewilkinsonstudio.com/ and follow him on Instagram at @wilkinsonsculpture