Paloma Clay Studio, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico
Workshops - Spring 2027
January 10-15, 2027
Josh DeWeese
The Character of a Pot
What are the elements that contribute to the character of a pot? How do you develop them to make them your own? This workshop is for developing your pottery as an expressive art form. The class will include instruction of different ways of making pots, using throwing and altering techniques. Ideas and information for surface treatments and firing techniques will be discussed and shared. Presentations of the artist’s work and contemporary ceramics will complement this hands-on experience.
This workshop is open to all with basic beginning throwing skills.
January 10-15, 2027
Kathy King
Let’s Talk – A Conversation Between Form and Imagery
Spend a week diving into image, surface, and storytelling in clay. This hands-on workshop is all about building your own visual language and bringing it to life on hand-built forms—whether functional, sculptural, or somewhere in between.
Using techniques like press molds, coils, and slabs as your starting point, you’ll explore ways to layer imagery and meaning onto your work. With humor as a guiding tool, King encourages unexpected approaches to function and narrative. Try your hand at sgraffito, decals, Photo EZ silk-screening, and resist printing, and discover glaze techniques that make your surfaces pop.
January 31-February 5, 2027
Andréa Keys Connell
Figures in Context: Building Narrative Sculpture in Clay
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The human figure has an extraordinary ability to hold stories. In this five-day workshop, students will create a hollow-built figurative sculpture while exploring how gesture, objects, surface, and place can transform a figure into a compelling narrative. Through demonstrations, hands-on exercises, and individualized instruction, participants will learn approachable techniques for constructing expressive figures, developing character through posture and gesture, integrating symbolic elements, and creating richly layered surfaces using color, pattern, carving, and underglaze. Working from observation, memory, and imagination, students will investigate how animals, plants, objects, architectural forms, and even the pedestal itself can function as powerful narrative devices. Emphasis will be placed on building stable hollow forms, developing personal visual language, and creating sculptures that balance technical skill with emotional resonance. Suitable for all experience levels, this workshop welcomes both those new to figurative sculpture and experienced makers seeking to expand their creative and sculptural practice.
Open to all levels of students.
April 4-9, 2027
Julia Galloway
Bringing Together Making and Thinking
Making Pottery that Expresses Our Ideas and Personal Sense of Beauty
In this one-week workshop, we will focus on developing our ideas through making useful pottery and exploring how to combine form and surface to express our ideas and inspiration. We will work primarily with cups and pouring pots while exploring a wide variety of slip-decoration surfaces. This workshop will include pottery-making demonstrations, slip-surface decoration techniques, historical pottery presentations, and gentle discussions of student work to help participants explore and develop their own aesthetics. (Intermediate skill level required.)
April 4-9, 2027
Bill Griffith
Mug-O-Rama
This workshop is designed for students of all levels interested in exploring hand-building as a technique used to create functional pottery. Students will focus on creating a variety of hand-built mugs, cups, and serving trays using soft clay slabs and templates. Original texture rollers and stamps for adding patterns and designs to pieces will be introduced. Students will learn various techniques for making handles on both cups and serving trays, with each displaying a strong sense of design through functional utility. Attention to good form and craftsmanship will be emphasized, while also presenting various glaze application techniques. Regular demonstrations will be part of this class, and daily group interactions and critiques will allow the student to express their individual ideas and learn from one another.
