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August 17-22, 2025
Christa Assad
 

Reinventing the Wheel

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Come spend 5 days working on your wheel skills in vibrant San Miguel de Allende alongside the equally colorful Christa Assad. Be a part of Christa’s triumphant return to workshopping after ten years off to rehabilitate from a broken back. She’s got many tricks saved up! This will be an extraordinary time to share, as wheel enthusiasts unite to push their boundaries beyond the round and discover exciting new levels of creativity. With daily demonstrations of atypical wheel-thrown forms such as spray cans, paint buckets, and other objects that blur the lines between functionality and sculpture, Christa will lead you through a vocabulary of geometric shapes and pot parts. She will simultaneously tell of her adventures of moving to Baja eight years ago, and how Mexico's rich culture and traditions have made her life brighter. 

Join the fun and try making something you’ve always wanted to tackle but weren’t sure how. You’ll be encouraged to think outside the round, cut and alter your pieces, stack parts, and build off the central axis. Christa’s work moves from serious to playful, and technical to simple. Enjoy the time to explore.

Workshop fee: $1200 USD 

(for details on what is included click here)

Deposit to register: $600 USD 

Sept. 28-Oct. 3, 2025
Adrian Arleo

Animal Imagery in Ceramic Sculpture

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During this five day workshop, participants will learn coil-building techniques to create expressive animal sculptures of their choosing. Standing, seated, reclined, wall sculptures; this course will cover a variety of approaches and ways to problem solve that will give you the skills to construct whatever vision you have, as well as remedying challenges you may have encountered in the past. We’ll use the rich cultural and natural setting of San Miguel for inspiration.
Throughout the workshop, Adrian will give demonstrations, as well as video and slide presentations on sculpting and coil-building to guide students in making medium-scale 
sculptures. Attention to the clay’s surface through carving, texture, and the addition of sprig-molded forms will add another design layer or narrative element. The techniques covered will

apply to making large-scale work. This will include internal supports and buttressing, sectioning, and reattaching techniques. Polymer clay will be used to make the sprig molds, which can be created from found or natural objects or from forms you create yourself.

In addition, Adrian will discuss and show examples of low-fire glazes, terra sigillata, and non-fired surface finishes such as wax encaustic, casein paint, and gold leaf for creating rich and varied surfaces.
Pieces created during the workshop can be fired afterward and arrangements made to have them shipped to you. This workshop is designed for participants with some clay experience.

Workshop fee: $1250 USD 

(for details on what is included click here)

Deposit to register: $600 USD 

San Miguel de Allende is known for its many festivals and celebrations throughout the year.
This workshop is scheduled to take place during the week before the Blessing of the Horses when hundreds of cowboys and horses make a pilgrimage from San Miguel’s countryside to the city for a special outdoor mass at the City’s iconic Parroquia. If you are a horse lover, this is an incredible sight to see, with the Cabalgata of over 1000 horses being ridden up Canal St
into the Jardin for a service in front of the church.

What If?
Ideas and Making

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October 26-31, 2025
Linda Christianson
 

Our ideas about pottery come from what we pay attention to.  This workshop will focus on our own personal curiosities and becoming comfortable with ideas, shapes, and methods that have eluded or are new to us.  Explore the sparking of ideas and making functional pots through demonstrations, lively discussions, fun exercises, and plenty of individual attention. This workshop is one of discovery and risk more than finished objects. The goal is for you to experience personal growth in your own work. Linda will demonstrate both wheel and hand-building techniques that she uses in her wood/salt-fired pots. She will address idea generation and the importance of learning to see.  The days will be balanced with plenty of time for your own work and personal attention.  Open to all skill levels. 

Workshop fee: $1200 USD 

(for details on what is included click here)

Deposit to register: $600 USD 

This workshop takes place immediately before the Day of the Dead in Mexico.  Workshop participants should plan to stay through the weekend to experience this colorful time in San Miguel de Allende. The streets are decorated, altars are built to honor the dead, faces are painted and costumes are donned making this one of the most exciting times to visit this historic city. It is truly a memorable experience!

Masks for Any Occasion

November 9-14, 2025
George Rodriguez
 

Explore a rich world of possibility in this fun sculpture class that bridges the past and present through animal and human clay masks. Think the year of the snake, guardian jaguar, fantastical creatures, Dia de Muertos, pageant performer, and more! Working from
drawings and inspirations from the local mask museum in San Miguel, create inspired wall-mounted or free-standing masks using slab and modeling techniques. Sculptures will be embellished using one-part sprig molds made in plaster, adding high-relief texture to the surface. Discussions will include ornamentation, composition, facial expressions, and story.
These masks can be functional, but most will be wall-mounted or free-standing decorative. Open to all levels.

Workshop fee: $1250 USD 

(for details on what is included click here)

Deposit to register: $600 USD