What Guides My Teaching

Teaching is one of the most rewarding parts of my life in clay. Over the past two decades, I have taught hundreds of students through classes, workshops, online programs, and community studios across the United States and beyond. While I love sharing techniques and processes, I am most interested in helping makers develop their own creative voice.

My workshops explore the intersection of form, function, and curiosity. Whether we are throwing, altering, handbuilding, combining parts, or developing surfaces, I encourage participants to think beyond recipes and step-by-step instructions. Together we investigate how ideas become objects, how problem-solving can lead to discovery, and how thoughtful decisions can transform everyday pots into expressive works of art.

I believe learning happens best through a combination of demonstration, experimentation, conversation, and play. Participants will gain practical skills and technical knowledge, but also a deeper understanding of design, process, and creative thinking. My goal is to create an environment where students feel supported, challenged, and inspired—whether they are discovering a new technique or refining a direction they have pursued for years.

Clay has given me mentors, community, purpose, and a lifelong path of learning. Through teaching, I hope to pass those gifts forward and help others build a meaningful relationship with their own creative practice.

If you would like to host a workshop, please reach me via email through my contact webpage.

A Little About Me

For more than twenty years, clay has been both my creative practice and my way of connecting with others. I am grateful to have taught workshops, classes, and demonstrations for makers across the United States and internationally, sharing ideas about form, surface, function, and creative problem-solving. Along the way, I founded Rat City Studios and Rain City Clay, published Creative Pottery, and was honored to be named Ceramics Monthly's Ceramic Artist of the Year in 2019. Through workshops, classes, and mentorship, I strive to foster curiosity, creativity, confidence, and connection through clay.

Indigo Fire Studio - Watertown, Massachusetts

October 3rd & 4th, 2026
Wheel throwing & Handbuilding
Details TBA > https://www.indigofirestudio.com/events

Estudio Paloma: San Miguel de Allende, MEXICO

October 26-31, 2026
(Learn More)

Cross Pollination

Join returning visiting artist Deborah Schwartzkopf for Cross Pollination, a 5-day ceramics retreat in the vibrant heart of San Miguel de Allende. Blending handbuilding and wheel-throwing techniques, this workshop focuses on creating expressive serving dishes. Deb will guide daily demonstrations and offer personalized support as participants explore altering thrown forms, working with templates, and bisque-fired clay molds. Deb will also share surface development techniques with slip and underglaze. You’ll be encouraged to experiment boldly, refine your voice, and connect your studio practice to broader artistic pathways. Come for the clay, stay for the color, and leave transformed by connection, culture, and collaboration. Two of Deb & Joe’s favorite outings in their last visit to San Miguel were the renowned Mask Museum and the UNESCO site of Atotonilco. We will do our best to organize these trips for the group. Workshop sessions conclude on October 31, giving you the chance to extend your stay and experience the powerful artistry and emotion of Día de los Muertos. You will get the most out of the workshop if you can throw a 5” cylinder and can center clay on the potter’s wheel. Come ready to experiment and draw inspiration from the fabulous city and culture of San Miguel! Running concurrently, ceramic sculptor Joe Wilkinson will be teaching a companion workshop for sculptors. While the two groups work independently, we’ll come together for shared exercises—such as making forms for use as molds, whether for sculptural repetition or thoughtful utility. Both instructors will offer image presentations, giving participants a window into their personal approaches, surfaces, and artistic journeys. These moments of crossover create a rich, collaborative learning environment—encouraging the cross-pollination of ideas between function and sculpture, intuition and technique.

LA MERIDIANA – International School of Ceramics in Tuscany, Italy

September 19 – October 2 2027
Handbuilding and Throwing with fall inspiration
Throwing and handbuilding, altering. Intermediate
( Learn More )

Celebrate the richness of the season and the joy of making in this workshop by Deb Schwartzkopf. Abundance: Serving the Harvest invites participants to combine handbuilding and wheelthrowing to explore the intersection of form, function, and personal expression.

Through demonstrations and shared studio time, we’ll explore a blend of wheelthrowing and handbuilding techniques. First, participants will work with altering thrown cylinders, shaping slabs using coiling molds, building with templates, and forming with intention. Furthermore, we’ll gather seasonal inspiration, sketch our ideas, and create small three-dimensional clay studies to develop forms. Moreover, surface design will be an integral part of the process, which we explore alongside form and function.

Workshops often include the ideas and techniques shared below:

Pitchers in process

General workshop description: Led by Seattle-based studio potter, instructor, and inspiring artist Deb Schwartzkopf, this exploratory workshop is for everyone working in clay with an interest in blending wheel throwing and handbuilding techniques. Let the process lead you to new inventions and ways of piecing together functional forms.
These immersive studio days will set in motion your ability to build complex forms with simple parts. We will discuss how expressive shapes spring from sketches, patterns, our environment, and the process of making itself. You will be able to bring home lots of notes captured in photos and sketches, maybe some greenware, and a host of new techniques that will enliven your studio practice! Come ready to experiment and have fun!

Join into an exchange of ideas as you foray into throwing, altering, cutting templates, molding slabs, deriving and defining inspiration, and then assembling. Contemplate the presentation of clay inspirations while browsing local markets, nearby villages, or historic sights. Build memories and share fabulous meal-time experiences with fellow participants. In addition, enjoy all the opportunities the area has to offer! 

Nitty Gritty

Small Serving bowls in Process

Learn new ways to move clay with skill-building exercises. Conversations may roam from surface design solutions to managing small businesses and from art/ life balance to mealtimes as inspiration for form, and much more!

Demonstrations will offer techniques for

·      Working with slabs & wheel thrown parts

·      Combining wheel-thrown and slab-built sections

·      Altering simple wheel-thrown parts

·      Basic template making

·      Creating bisque molds to shape slabs 

·      Making handles

·      Inspiration gathering

Workshop Hunters Information List

I have some adventures in the pipeline for 2026 and 2027!

I'll be teaching internationally in Mexico and Italy.  Details are still be shaped.  If you are interested, go ahead and add your name to my growing list of workshop hunters!

Sessional Classes at Rain City Clay

Continuing Wheel &
Handbuilding Blend

Dates: June 16th-August 18th
Time: Tuesdays, 6:00pm-9:00pm
(Learn More)

This class introduces participants to making and using bisque-fired clay molds to create repeatable, functional forms. Students will learn how to design and build their own molds, then use them to make trays, plates, bowls, and other vessels with consistency and efficiency. We’ll explore how a single design idea can translate across multiple shapes, helping you develop a more unified body of work. This class is open to both wheel throwers and handbuilders alike. It emphasizes practical techniques alongside creative problem-solving. It pairs well with the professional development seminar on Defining Your Voice by offering tools and techniques to bring those ideas into repeatable form.

Defining Your Style

June 16th-August 18th, 2026
Tuesdays 9:00am-11:00am
Learn More

This 10-week class focuses on developing artistic voice through reflection, research, and conversation rather than hands-on making. Using ideas from Eva Zeisel’s Book on Design alongside guided writing and visual exercises, students will investigate their influences, identify recurring themes in their work, and learn to articulate their intentions clearly. Each session includes artwork analysis, group discussion, and critique of both greenware and finished pieces, helping participants connect ideas to outcomes. Through structured prompts and goal-setting, students will build a framework for translating inspiration into a cohesive body of ceramic work outside of class. This course is ideal for artists seeking clarity, direction, and a deeper understanding of their own practice.

About the Artist

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.