Paloma Clay Studio, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico
Workshop Instructors
2024-25
Richard Burkett - Old Dog/New Tricks: throw, build, extrude - new ways to work with clay
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/
Deborah Schwartzkopf - Blended Bliss: Blending Wheel Throwing and Hand-building Techniques
Deb Schwartzkopf (she/her) has worked in clay for over 20 years. After receiving an MFA from Penn State in 2005, Deb Schwartzkopf taught at Ohio University, Mass. College of Art & Design, University of Washington, as well as for the University of Georgia’s study abroad program in Cortona, Italy. She participated in residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation (MT), Mudflat Studios (MA), the Clay Studio (PA), Watershed (ME), Red Lodge Clay Studio (MT), the Ceramics Workcenter in Berlin, Germany, and San Boa in Jingdezhen China! Deb teaches and exhibits nationally and internationally. Deb established Rat City Studios (2013) and Rain City Clay (2022) with a mission to engage and build community through clay. She maintains a lively career in the ceramic arts, loves to garden, tends honey bees, and also works with stained glass! Ceramics Monthly Magazine awarded Deborah Schwartzkopf Ceramic Artist of the Year for 2019. Deb wrote Creative Pottery in June of 2020 which features 192 pages of clay working techniques.
Claudia Olds Goldie - The Human/Animal Narrative -
Claudia Olds Goldie is a 2017 Mass Cultural Council finalist. She has received a Kiln God Residency from Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts, a residency fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center, and a nomination for a Boston Foundation Brother Thomas fellowship. She has shown nationally in shows such as the NCECA Biennial in Houston, SOFA Chicago, numerous State of Clay National Juried exhibitions, and “Contemporary Figurative Sculpture” at Santa Fe Clay Gallery. She is represented by Boston Sculptors Gallery, the Wit Gallery in Lenox, Massachusetts, and Robert Collins Gallery in Rockport, Massachusetts.
Claudia received her BFA from Boston University College of Visual Arts. She taught sculpture and ceramics for over 30 years at Dexter Southfield School in Brookline, Massachusetts, and is presently an instructor at Harvard University’s Ceramic Program. She has taught figurative ceramic workshops across the country and in Mexico.
Her work has been published in 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.
Bill Van Gilder - The Functional Pot; Tips, Tools & Techniques
A professional potter for more than 50 years, Bill van Gilder began his clay work at age 15 as a studio apprentice to the late Byron Temple, Lambertville, NJ. He then apprenticed in Ireland and England, and received a degree from Harrow School of Art, London, UK. Bill then established and managed two large training centers in Southern Africa under the auspices of the World Bank. van Gilder has served on the faculty of The Art League, Alexandria, VA and founded the Frederick Pottery School, Frederick, MD. He has hosted the DIY Network television series ‘Throwing Clay’ and has written a regular feature column in Clay Times magazine about making pottery. He currently leads workshops nationally and internationally on pottery forming, decorating, and firing techniques. van Gilder designed a line of professional pottery tools which are sold internationally. His clay work is exhibited and held in collections worldwide. In 1985, van Gilder established a studio, craft gallery, and home atop South Mountain in central Maryland, which he continues to operate today. https://www.vangilderpottery.com/
Cristina Córdova- The Figure in Clay: Form and Surface
Cristina Córdova is a contemporary artist and sculpting instructor whose work is collected worldwide. Native to Puerto Rico, Córdova completed her BA at the University of Puerto Rico and received her MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. She is featured in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the Everson Museum, the Mint Museum of Craft + Design; the Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico; and the Mobile Art Museum, among others. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including NC Arts Council Fellowship Grant, a Virginia Groot Foundation Recognition Grant, several International Association of Art Critics of Puerto Rico awards, and the prestigious United States Artist Fellowship award. Her work is widely published in all major ceramics and arts media, including the cover of Ceramics Monthly, and was featured by Craft in America, on PBS, in their episode on Identity. In 2022 she published Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay (Quarto Publishing).Cristina has taught and demonstrated around the world. Her residencies, workshops, and classes include Harvard University, the University of California, the University of Nebraska, the University of Georgia, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Ceramistas de Reñaca in Chile, the Australian National University in Canberra, Gaya Ceramics in Bali, Penland School of Crafts (NC), Haystack Mountain School (ME), Santa Fe Clay (NM), Odyssey Center for Ceramics (NC), and Anderson Ranch (CO), among others. Find her online at: https://www.cristinacordova.com/
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/
Tony Clennell -Finding Your Voice: Casual Work and Extreme Handles
Tony Clennell 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
Tip Toland - What's on Your Mind? Portrait and Other
Tip Toland lives in Vaughn, Washington. She received her MFA from Montna 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 Seatle, 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.
More information about Tip and her work is available at: http://www.tiptoland.com/
Lorna Meaden -Decorating Utility: Balancing Utility & Aesthetics
Lorna Meaden has lived in Durango, Colorado on and off for almost 30 years. Having originally moved there from the Chicago suburbs to go to Fort Lewis College, she has had many adventures in the local art scene along with intermittent moves to other places seeking education, artist residencies, and as much international travel as possible.
After receiving a BA from Fort Lewis College in 1994, and an MFA in ceramics from Ohio University in 2005, she completed artist residencies at the Archie Bray
Foundation for Ceramic Arts and Anderson Ranch Arts Center. She has been visiting faculty at San Juan College in Farmington, NM, Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, and Fort Lewis College in Durango. Some of what she considers her most fulfilling work has been teaching and learning abroad including time spent in Jamaica, Nicaragua, Nepal, Italy, and most recently, Bali, Indonesia. Lorna is currently a full-time studio potter. She teaches workshops and shows her work extensively, both nationally and internationally.
More information about Lorna and her work is available at: https://www.lornameadenpottery.com/