Workshop at Estudio Paloma
Workshop Title: Cross-Pollination
Location: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Dates: October 26–31, 2026 (orientation on the 26th)
Instructor: Deborah Schwartzkopf
Join returning visiting artist Deborah Schwartzkopf for Cross Pollination, a 4-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 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.
About Deb
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.
Joe Wilkinson Bio & Artist Statement
Joe Wilkinson is a Seattle-based ceramic sculptor whose work explores the tension between structure and chaos, inspired by 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.
Workshop Title: Cross-Pollination
Location: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Dates: October 26–31, 2026 (orientation on the 26th)
Instructor: Joe Wilkinson
Working with an open, responsive mindset, Joe Wilkinson encourages an intuitive relationship with clay—allowing sculptural forms to emerge through curiosity, play, and thoughtful exploration. In this four-day hands-on ceramics retreat in the vibrant town of San Miguel Allende (SMA), Joe will guide participants in building abstract pieces using clay coils and hard slabs, focusing on construction techniques that invite spontaneity.
In addition to free-form building, participants will create a bisque-fired clay mold as a tool to explore repetition and scale. This mold will be used to construct a larger sculpture composed of multiple components. These components can be uniform for a cohesive effect or altered for more complexity and movement.
Nature will be our inspiration, with forms drawn from branching systems like river deltas, neural pathways, and or the outstretched arms of the Ocotillo cactus. Joe will demonstrate ways to build pieces that rise from the table or extend from the wall, encouraging participants to rethink orientation and explore new spatial relationships.
Throughout the week, we’ll dive into ideas of scale, rhythm, negative space, and visual tension. You’ll be invited to play, experiment, and develop confidence as you create sculptural elements with flow and presence. Group discussions and image presentations will deepen the experience, as Joe shares insight into his own forming process, surface choices, and creative influences.
Running alongside this workshop, ceramic artist Deborah Schwartzkopf will be teaching a complementary class focused on functional forms. 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.
Two of Deb and Joe’s favorite places from their last visit to San Miguel were the renowned Mask Museum and the UNESCO World Heritage site of Atotonilco. We’ll do our best to organize these outings for the group.
Workshop sessions conclude on October 31st, offering you the opportunity to extend your stay and witness the extraordinary vibrancy of Día de los Muertos—a celebration of memory, creativity, and cultural beauty.
Come for the clay, stay for the color, and leave renewed by connection, culture, and creative growth.
