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workshops

Sarah Pike teaching a workshop in her home studio

Workshops at Sarah Pike Pottery

Workshops at Sarah Pike Pottery are immersive five-day experiences designed for potters who love texture, form, and the endless possibilities of slab-built clay.

Each session welcomes a small group of makers to Sarah’s Fernie, BC studio for a week of learning, creativity, and connection.

Each workshop includes five days of hands-on instruction with Sarah Pike, a welcome dinner the evening before your workshop begins, five gluten-free lunches prepared by Red Seal Chef and Chopped Canada winner Barrie Elliott of Fernie Catering Co., and an optional Workshop + Stay program with 6 nights of shared accommodation in Fernie.

Sarah is finalizing the details of the 2027 season this month. The dates are set and listed below; pricing and the full Workshop + Stay details will be announced in October. Registration opens Friday, October 16. Newsletter subscribers receive the time and details first.

2027 Workshop Schedule

Four sessions, two seasons, one small mountain studio!

Slabbery: Form & Design - June 14-18, 2027

Texture Explorations - June 22-26, 2027

Slabbery: Form & Design - September 13-17, 2027

Texture Explorations - September 20 - September 24, 2027

Registration opens in October 16, 2026

Workshop Options & Pricing

All prices in USD

Workshop Only

Price: To be announced in October

Five days of hands-on instruction with Sarah Pike in her Fernie, BC studio. A warm, creative, and fully immersive experience.

Each session welcomes a small group of ten makers to Sarah’s light-filled studio, a space for focused making, shared exploration, and creative exchange in clay.

Includes:

  • Welcome dinner on the evening before your workshop begins

  • Five gluten-free lunches prepared by Red Seal Chef and Chopped Canada winner Barrie Elliott of Fernie Catering Co.

  • All clay, materials, and shared studio tools

  • Includes glazing and firing two of your pieces after the workshop

Workshop + Stay

Price: To be announced in October

Everything in the Workshop Only option, plus six nights of shared accommodation through Sarah's Artist Retreat Initiative. Sarah hand-picks each home for her students: beautiful, full of character, in the heart of downtown Fernie with the Rockies at the door, chosen for how it feels to land there after a full day in the studio.

Includes:

  • Six nights, extended from five in response to 2026 participant feedback

  • Your own private room in a shared home, walkable to downtown cafés and galleries

  • Shared living spaces where the week's community carries on after studio hours

  • Personally vetted by Sarah, in the same spirit as the 2026 Workshop + Stay

    June 2026 participants rated the Workshop + Stay five out of five, every one of them, and would recommend it. Full details announced in October.

cancellation policy
Sarah Pike rolling out a red clay slab in her slabbuilding studio

Slabbery: Form & Design

Sarah’s Slabbery is back: Five days of form, design, and slabbuilding techniques in her Fernie studio.

This five day workshop focuses on the form and design of slabbuilding. (slabbery) Slabbuilding has its own unique qualities and challenges: how do you transform a flat slab of clay into expressive, three dimensional functional forms?

Join Sarah in her home studio and learn from a maker obsessed with slabbuilding design and techniques, with years of experience shaping and refining this approach. Over the week, she’ll demonstrate a range of slabbuilding techniques and share her design thinking, blending structure with playful experimentation. Students will explore templates, bisque molds, and altering methods to build forms with proportion and personality.

Offered twice in 2027 - June 14-18 and September 13-17.

Two women examining a ceramic object inside Sarah Pike's pottery studio, with a third woman in the background near a window.
Two women working at a wooden table in Sarah Pike's pottery workshop. One woman with white hair and glasses lifting a large slab of clay, the other with long blonde hair focusing on making small items.
Sarah demonstrating a slab-building step to a workshop participant at the worktable.
Two women in a pottery studio, one with short gray hair and glasses, wearing a yellow apron, and the other with long dark hair, wearing a denim shirt. They are examining a small object. The workspace is filled with shelves of pottery and tools, and a table with a rolling pin, cloth, and pottery items.
Three women gathered around a wooden table in a craft workshop, with tools and materials for pottery or ceramic work.
Person wearing a beige apron and denim shirt, forming pottery, shaping clay with hands.
Group of women participating in a workshop on an outdoor patio of a rustic house with black walls and large windows, surrounded by outdoor greenery and mountains.
Unfinished clay pottery placed on a wooden table outdoors, with trees, grass, and snow-capped mountains in the background.

Moments from the studio — learning, making, and the rhythm of slabbery with a maker obsessed with clay, design, and the hand-built form.

Texture Explorations

Sarah’s much loved Texture Explorations Workshop returns - five days of texture play, tool making, and surface design in her Fernie studio.

This five day hands-on workshop focuses on texture, tools, and surface pattern play. Before Sarah makes a slab form, she makes the texture tools, the behind-the-scenes part of her process. She has spent years researching and refining her surface design techniques, and will demonstrate just how she does it: from initial sketches on paper, to carving stamp and roller blanks, to testing and refining each tool.

Students will learn how to texture and stamp clay using both hand-carved and found tools, exploring the tactile process of pressing and impressing texture into clay. Through this, they’ll gain an understanding of repeated pattern design and how rhythm, depth, and mark making can completely transform a slab.

Sarah guides participants through every stage of her texturing process: carving stamps and rollers, creating cutouts, experimenting with pattern and repetition, while making simple cups, tiles, and plates as canvases for surface exploration.

Offered twice in 2027 — June 22-26 and September 20-24.

Sarah Pike demonstrating in texture workshop in home studio
Women working on pottery projects in a ceramics studio, with shelves of pottery and tools in the background.
Several large, decorative, pinkish-brown ceramic teapots with intricate patterns and textured surfaces, arranged together on a flat surface.
Three women in a pottery studio, one seated working on clay, two standing and observing, surrounded by shelves with pottery supplies and tools.
People participating in a pottery class, working on clay pots and decorations in a wooden studio.
Group of people working on ceramic projects in a pottery studio with wooden shelves and windows.
Close-up of an elderly person's hands carving a clay stamp with a a carving tool in an indoor workshop.
Person carving a design into clay on a worktable, surrounded by pottery and clay tools.
Three women working on pottery projects in a workshop with large windows and natural light.

Moments from the studio — carving, pressing, and exploring the surface stories of clay, shaped by a maker whose lifelong exploration of texture has inspired so many to play.

Living room and kitchen with exposed brick walls, large windows with blinds, hardwood floors, sectional sofa, armchairs, coffee table, fireplace, kitchen island with barstool, stainless steel appliances, and pendant lighting.

Workshop + Stay grew out of something 2025 participants kept telling Sarah. The studio days were full, and then everyone scattered across town for the night, and the best conversations ended at the studio door. Sarah's Artist Retreat Initiative was created to keep them going: a shared home where the day carries on, with dinners cooked together, conversations that run late, and friendships that have had students asking to room together again at their next workshop.

For 2027, the stay extends to six nights. Accommodation is in shared homes in downtown Fernie, a few minutes from the studio and an easy walk to cafés, galleries, and restaurants. Depending on the session, the group may be housed across more than one residence.

Each session welcomes ten participants. Both Workshop + Stay and Workshop Only seats are offered in every session, so those who prefer to arrange their own lodging can. For 2027, Sarah also hopes to offer a couples option: two people, both registered for the workshop, sharing one room.

Room assignments are confirmed closer to the workshop. Requests, such as rooming with a friend, are welcome on the participant form and accommodated where possible, but cannot be guaranteed.

Workshop + Stay: Artist Retreat Initiative

Living room with exposed brick walls, wooden window frames with blinds, two upholstered armchairs, a small side table with a lamp, a stone fireplace with a fish artwork above it and a sculpture of a horse on top.
A dining room with a wooden table, six gray chairs, and a brick wall. There are windows with blinds and a glass door leading outside. An overhead light fixture hangs above the table, and there is a wall sconce on the right side.
A modern bedroom with a brick accent wall, wooden blinds on windows, a bed with green bedding and pillows, a nightstand with a lamp, and a television on a wooden dresser.
Living room with gray sofa, green armchair, coffee table, TV, and wooden floors, kitchen with dark wood cabinets, bar stools, and pendant lighting.

Moments in the making — a new chapter of shared space and connection, surrounded by the mountains and creative spirit of Fernie.

Food & Nourishment

All workshops include catering by Red Seal Chef and Chopped Canada winner Barrie Elliott of Fernie Catering Co., who returns for 2027.

Her seasonal, locally sourced menus are prepared entirely gluten free, featuring a welcome dinner and five nourishing lunches. Barrie’s fresh, thoughtful food keeps makers inspired throughout the week. A celebration of care, creativity, and community shared around the table.

Four women sitting around a wooden table outdoors, raising cans in a toast, smiling and enjoying food and drinks, with green trees in the background.
Skewers of grilled chicken served in patterned and textured bowls by Sarah Pike on a wooden table.
Group of people enjoying outdoor gathering in a garden with a rustic wooden house, surrounded by trees and mountains.
Group of women at outdoor gathering, looking at bowls of food on a rustic wooden table, with a garden and trees in the background, under a sunny sky.

Moments shared — meals served in Sarah’s handmade ceramics, where food and form come together in celebration of craft and community.

Sarah Pike slabbuilding studio

The Studio & Fernie  

Workshops take place at Sarah Pike’s home studio, located on an acre of land on the edge of Fernie, British Columbia. Fernie is a small mountain town known for its creative energy and mountain setting. The property backs onto a beaver pond and the Elk River, so don’t be surprised if you spot moose or beavers during your visit.

The studio is a bright, welcoming space designed with makers in mind. With multiple solid worktables, two electric kilns, a small glaze kitchen, and plenty of natural light, it’s the perfect place to settle into the rhythm of clay work. When the weather allows, the covered outdoor area offers even more room to spread out and explore. Class sizes are intentionally small, giving each participant ample space and support.

Fernie itself is a small mountain town of about five thousand people, tucked into the Elk Valley of the Canadian Rockies. It’s as creative as it is outdoorsy, full of hiking trails, mountain bike paths, coffee shops, art galleries, and local restaurants. Downtown is just a few minutes away, making it easy to enjoy both studio time and mountain life.

Learn more about Fernie and how to get here!

Moments rooted — a place to work, rest, and find inspiration in Fernie’s mountain light.

What People Are Saying

“Sarah is so normal…in the best possible way. She made us feel like were all friends, so genuine, so kind… AMAZING!”

— Slabbery: Form & Design, 2025

“Sarah is warm, friendly and a lovely human. She pays incredible attention to detail and refinement. There are so many improvements I have made to both my work and my teaching because of her instruction and methods. Highly recommend learning from Sarah from courses and workshops”

— Slabbery: Form & Design, 2025

“Very cool getting to work side by side with the “MASTER” potter + technician. I have a lot of external stress with my regular routine - so the workshop was a much needed mental respite. The workshop time went by so fast, and I so enjoyed my other classmates and hope we can stay in touch”

— Texture Explorations, 2025

“The week was amazing! I honestly feel like it could not be a better experience. I loved every minute.

— Slabbery: Form & Design 2025

“Workshop exceeded my expectations - Sarah was very helpful + patient with me. Loved personal touch with help trying new techniques and processes. Loved all the pro tips, suggestions, and family interactions. Could not have had a better time doing anything else”

— Texture Explorations, 2025

“Could not be better! The lunches served in your pottery were beautiful and delicious! Not having to pack a lunch or leave to pick up was decadent”

— Texture Explorations, 2025

“Any other workshops will have a hard time living up to yours, I really enjoyed it”

— Texture Explorations, 2025

Moments remembered — reflections from those who’ve shared a week of clay, community, and Fernie.

Interested in online workshops? Check out these offerings.

online workshops
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