6-week classes meet once per week and are designed to teach students of all levels to throw various shapes on the wheel or hand-building. Students walk their pieces through the entire process creating, trimming, and glazing, and their pieces are fired by our staff. Cost includes 25-pounds of clay, all materials, and glazes.

Our pottery experiences are one-time, two-hour sessions guided by local Santa Fe artists and geared toward travelers, newbies, and anyone looking for a fun introduction to pottery. Students will enjoy a local beverage while learning to use the potter’s wheel and may also get to try out hand-building. Pottery experiences prioritize touching, forming, and manipulating clay into expressions of art and are experience-based, meaning that at the end of each session students recycle their work back into the clay mound. Students do not, however, walk away empty handed as they receive a $15 credit in the gallery, which is full of ceramics locally-handcrafted by Santa Fe artists.

We start each pottery experience by doling out drinks (we’ve got a variety of beverages to choose from, and you’re welcome to BYOB as well). Then we take students on a tour of our studio where over a dozen Santa Fe ceramic artists come to create. Paseo Pottery has been part of the local art scene for three decades, and our space includes both a working ceramics studio and a retail gallery. In the studio, artists feverishly design and create—think muddy mayhem, whirling wheels, fiery kilns, and sundry clay-coated potting paraphernalia—while in the gallery finished pieces are displayed and available for purchase.

There’s a long tradition of ceramic arts in New Mexico, and the process of making pottery is often viewed as a spiritual practice. Pottery is among the most ancient forms of art and is perhaps the most fleeting. Chards of ancient ceramics are scattered on bluffs and foothills throughout New Mexico and are a constant reminder of the transitory nature of our particular form of art and of our very human existence. For millennia, ceramic artists across New Mexico have transformed clay into vessels to be held between hands, to be filled with nourishment, to be brought to lips, and after serving their purpose, to be returned to the earth.

At Paseo Pottery we embrace this rich history, and we present our classes for travelers in the form of pottery “experiences.” During each experience, students have two hours to create their own works of art using the tools at their disposal in our studio, all the inner creativity they can muster, and a raw lump of clay. Our teachers start with a demonstration to give students basic pottery-making techniques, then act as guides while students unleash their inner artists and tap into the creativity they may find bubbling to the surface given the artistic energy that abounds in Santa Fe. Each student creates their own unique and beautiful expression of art. At the end of the experience, students present their masterpieces to the rest of the class, take photos if they wish, and then—in the spirit of embracing the ephemeral nature of art and of humanity—students ceremoniously recycle their masterpieces, deconstructing them, kneading them back into the lump of clay from which they came.

Similar to monks on the other side of the earth who spend days, even months, creating sand mandalas, only to then blow them away in an instant, ceramic experiences at Paseo Pottery encourage students to learn our craft, to create, to appreciate, and then to let go. One might think of our experience-based classes as “mud therapy.”

Experiences are led by our professional ceramic artists who volunteer their time. 100% of net proceeds go to our non-profit beneficiaries. Cost includes a two-hour experiential class complete with libations, clay, materials, and tools.

Thanks to HBO Max, JauntTV, Santa Fe New Mexican, Radio Free Santa Fe, The Santa Fe Reporter, The Richard Eeds Show, and New Mexico Magazine for their recent coverage of Paseo Pottery, our pottery experiences, and our charitable mission!

Enjoy a locally hand-crafted beer or cocktail by Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery during your pottery experience, or you’re welcome to BYOB as well.

This gift certificate is good for any one of our Raku Workshops. These happen the third Friday of every month. Bisqueware is priced separately (available for purchase day of).

Experience the excitement of moving glowing red hot pottery into a can of combustibles that burst into flames, slamming the lid on it to create an oxygen reduced atmosphere, taking out your charred pieces and cleaning them off to reveal the exciting and beautiful results of a Raku firing. Bring your own bisqueware (cone 04-10) or purchase bisqueware from our studio for firing. Please email info@paseopottery.com at least 3 days prior to the workshop if you plan on purchasing bisqued pieces from us.

Want to sign up for 5 pottery experiences to make the most of your visit to Santa Fe? This 5-experience pass allows you to pick and choose any 5 of our experiences within a 30 day period.

Can't choose between our 6-week classes? With a 6-class pass, you can pick and choose 6 different class sessions within a 60 day period. You will receive a punch pass (needs to be picked up at the studio), which will be punched by a studio manager for each class you attend. Expires 2 months after purchase.

After graduating from one of our long-term classes, or after receiving the approval of our studio manager, students are eligible to become Studio Members. Studio Members are entitled to sign up for unlimited hours in the studio at $5/hour and will receive access to Studio Calendar upon completing payment and agreeing to Studio Policies. Studio hours are first come first served and must be reserved in advance. Studio Members are given a shelf for personal items and have full use of studio, equipment, and glazes during their reserved studio hours. Additional shelf space may be rented monthly, subject to availability. Firing fees are payable in the form of tickets, which can be purchased in studio or on our website.

NOTE: Monthly memberships are subscriptions and will renew automatically unless cancelled. You will receive a subscription renewal reminder every month 7 days before the payment date. If you wish to cancel or pause your membership, you will need to cancel it before the monthly payment completes.

After graduating from one of our long-term classes, or after receiving the approval of our studio manager, students are eligible to become Studio Members. Studio Members are entitled to sign up for unlimited hours in the studio at $5/hour and will receive access to Studio Calendar upon completing payment and agreeing to Studio Policies. Studio hours are first come first served and must be reserved in advance. Studio Members are given a shelf for personal items and have full use of studio, equipment, and glazes during their reserved studio hours. Additional shelf space may be rented monthly, subject to availability. Firing fees are payable in the form of tickets, which can be purchased in studio or on our website.

After graduating from one of our long-term classes, or after receiving the approval of our studio manager, students are eligible to become Studio Members. Studio Members are entitled to sign up for unlimited hours in the studio at $5/hour and will receive access to Studio Calendar upon completing payment and agreeing to Studio Policies. Studio hours are first come first served and must be reserved in advance. Studio Members are given a shelf for personal items and have full use of studio, equipment, and glazes during their reserved studio hours. Additional shelf space may be rented monthly, subject to availability. Firing fees are payable in the form of tickets, which can be purchased in studio or on our website.

Do you need more storage space for your tools or work? Consider purchasing an extra shelf for $50/month.
(Storage lockers also available for $28/month)