2020 was a year for the records!

There was a rush of major panic in early March as all my in-person book signings, workshops, craft fairs, classes at RCS, & exhibitions were canceled for 2020. A major pivot to teaching online was required. Many of you may not know, but I am terrified of being on video (or at least I was…)! That all changed as I slogged through the steep learning curve of technology and my own fears. Now I’ve taught over 50 online workshops since March – WOW. As I try to find a silver lining, I’m grateful for being pushed to grow online offerings.

I also published a BOOK and totally shifted my studio offerings at RCS. I continue to have studio assistants & memberships at RCS on a small scale but no classes or lessons. We are all still making loads of artwork, keeping the studio healthy and sanitized, and offering encouragement to each other. This year we moved and rebuilt the pizza oven, repainted the classroom building front after a contractor resided in the upper portion of the shop, painted the house, and organized the 3rd Annual “Community Cup Showcase” at Dubsea Coffee. Anika Major, Krista Cortese, and Brooke Felix add so much to the energy of the studio! Hopefully, we will build a soda-kiln - maybe in the summer/fall of 2021… So far the cement slab is in place and we have started on the kiln shed as well.

Zoom has been a powerful tool to helping me stay connected as I teach weekly workshops, have Objective Clay support check-ins, meet with my accountant /coach/ therapist, and stay connected with family and friends! What an important platform.

I have been loving the interaction generated in the smaller / longer-session online classes. These are taught over the course of 5 weeks using a blend of Zoom and a Private FB Group. I'm getting to know new people and I see great progress in participants' experimenting and developing functional shapes! My next "Wednesday Work Along" will focus on Liqueur Sets. It will have recorded live-streamed demonstrations, fun homework projects, Q&A, & a meetup during the workshop rooms for show and tell. (Guest Presenters: Taylor Sijan and Samantha Momeyer)- they give a 15-30 minute guest demo). These workshops build camaraderie and clay skills at the same time!

Rat City Studios Teaching Studio in 2020 - photo by Matisse LB photography

RCS Mission
The mission of Rat City Studios is to engage and build community through clay – one person, one neighborhood, and one experience at a time.

RCS Vision
Rat City Studios is a place for innovative experiential learning, quality community classes, emerging artist opportunities, and working with clay. It is a place where people come together to learn and grow. It’s a dream!

RCS Objectives

Build community through clay- Deb’s career as a ceramic artist, studio assistant positions, workshops, community classes, and events

Support emerging artists- financially, with community, and with guidance
Foster experiential learning- fuses full circle studio practice & daily living, through working with assistants on daily studio chores, personal guidance, & introducing them to the way I do everything from networking, managing a studio, & being an inventive, successful artist in the ceramics field.
Form innovative collaborations/ Cross pollinate communities- create cross-sector partnerships and collaborations, grow relationships, provide learning experiences for myself and crew at RCS that stretches us personally and broadens the scope of our work.
Serve the community- with a high level of thoroughness and professionalism, attentive teaching, quality facility, educational workshops/presentations,
Stay inspired- keep bees, deepen conversations with contacts in the field, tend the garden, love life, and share it with others

Current Studio Assistants: Anika is staying on for a 3rd year as Studio Manager in 2021. Krista Cortese is finishing up her 2nd year (while setting up her own studio in North Seattle) and Brook Felix is in her first year.

Studio Members: There are 16 studio members that pay a monthly fee to have access to the studio. We are currently full, but I do have a waitlist. More info on studio members.

Anika, Krista & Brooke during the summer of 2020

Goals for 2021

~ Making time more for physical health: more stretching & running!
~ Spend more time in the garden
~ Give more Inclusivity Awards for online-workshop participation
~ Build a Soda-Kiln!
~ Deepen my meditation practice through the Waking Up App
~ Build on my strengths rather than reaching far at every stride
~ Continue with a personal coach/ business coaching
~ Gain more financial acumen for growing RCS
~ Kayak!

Making a living as an Artist looks like this...

Below are Pie Charts of my 2020 Income and Expenses
Even further down are highlights and lists of where all my time went.
I hope to learn as I do this over the years. For more business resources: visit http://ratcitystudios.com/resources/

2020 Online Classes

More than 50 online streamed sessions on clay related topics

Topics include: Baskets, Sauce Boats, BOOK Reveal, Bottles, Bowls, Butter Dish, Creamers, Pourovers, Sugar Jars, Teapots, Cake Stands, Citrus Juicers, Colanders, Cups Registration Cups, Floor Tiles, Glazing, GR Pottery Forms, Painting on Clay, Abstraction & Inspiration, Handbuilt Vases, Handles, Ornaments, Pitcher Registration, Plates, Spoon, Surfaces Development, Teapots, Trays, Platters, & Vases!!!

35 Inclusivity Awards were given for free participation by underrepresented groups in the arts -
Please share this opportunity!

Over 600 unique participants in 2020 online workshops

2020 Writings

BOOK! Creative Pottery, Innovative Techniques and Experimental Designs in Ceramics, by Deb Schwartzkopf

The Secret Rules of Pottery Aesthetics, by Ryan Coppage

What Makes a Potter: Functional Pottery in America, by Janet Koplos

Living with Pottery, by Justine Riley

(other writings...)

Online Teaching

Other 2020 Highlights
Saw four beehives make it through the winter!!!
Worked with Dubsea to showcase 167 Community Cups!
Had two full months with Joe home everyday and loved it! (Covid Unemployment)
Painted the House Yellow!
Bought kayaks to enjoy the outdoors in another way.
Bought a Cardboard Shredder to move away from shipping with single-use plastics
Paid a contractor to re-side the upper portion of the studio building from water damage
Helped out with the Pottery Northwest Board
Online Holiday Pottery Sale!
Many outdoor meals with friends around our backyard campfire…
AND
Visited Windcliff Garden for the first time!

There is so much to be thankful for.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Statement

As a business owner, as an educator, as a curator, and as an artist, I have an essential role to play in dismantling unjust and inequitable systems within my own organization and larger community. I understand that I come from a background of privilege and have benefited from a racist system. We live in a world that is all too often non-inclusive. Through these roles I will make changes that are measurable and lasting, which foster racial equity, diversity, and inclusion in my local and further afield communities.

Through my business, Rat City Studios, I stand in solidarity against racism in the clay community and the systemic inequities and injustices that our BIPOC community faces. I will endeavor to actively use the resources of RCS to facilitate sustainable change and foster a creative community that is a safe, inclusive and equitable.

As a small business owner, I am posting my statement and goals on my website. Please support and help hold me accountable as I endeavor to change and restructure by:

Furthering Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

I made a list of commitments to further Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for myself and my business. I added these to my website on the RCS "about" page. Here is where I am at - great steps in learning and working to implement.

1. taking training on being an anti-capitalist and equitable, diverse, inclusive business and sharing these with my community
- Equitable Business Incubator with Wanderwell
- Town Hall with Rachel Rodgers
- PNW Board DEI Training/ Conversations with Alina Santillan, Director of Racial Equity for Seattle Center Cohort

2. I moved to reserve one assistant position be for BIPOC with a $200 a month stipend.
Covid has made it quite hard to have rotating visiting artists in person.

3. Increasing the percentage of business-related purchases to be from BIPOC owned business- aiming at 30%
This step is proving to be the most challenging and hard totally. I am keeping this as a point of importance and decision making as I find contractors & shop for regular needs

4. bringing the names, artwork, and ideas of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ to studio meetings, educational situations, curated events, and organizations I interact with.
- I have been part of signing a document to be given to arts organizations before I accept teaching appointments that asks if they are diversifying instructors and more.
- I am making an effort to broaden my knowledge of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ Artists
- I am making an effort to bring BIPOC instructors to my online classes as paid guest presenters.

5. taking racial equity, diversity, and inclusion into account as I make decisions
This is a change that is coming into my life more and more- as I pick what I read, as a pick what music or podcasts fill my days, as I pick what organization I donate to, as I choose what take-out to order… I am working toward lasting changes in how I see the world.

6. other steps.
- participating in a Group raffle that raised $10,000+ for BLM and BIPOC organizations
- offering Inclusivity Awards for online classes. 10 awarded spaces per workshop in September and October.
- bring forward quotes from BIPOC at morning meetings - Here is a favorite podcast featuring Robin Wall Kimmerer
- regular donations to Crafting the Future
- contacted Arivva about volunteer opportunities, still working on this. To transform Pierce County by connecting high school students and adults-in-transition to the opportunities and environment they need to build a better future for themselves, their families, and our community. I hope you also might look into supporting this amazing organization.
- a small but regular donation to Crafting the Future. Crafting the Future works to diversify the fields of art, craft and design by connecting BIPOC artists with opportunities that will help them thrive. I hope you also might look into supporting as well.
- reading Me and White Supremacy
- reading The Gift
- reading Non-Violent Communication

- participating in Duwamish REAL RENT

This is just a starting place for change and I recognize that these efforts will develop and grow as I continue to educate myself and become more aware of how to plan and implement these goals into my art practice and business structure.

I invite you to give your support and offer suggestions and encouragement in this effort. (I'm able to grow through the support of your voice and engagement.)

The mission of Rat City Studios is to engage and build community through clay – one person, one neighborhood, and one experience at a time. We believe in the power of art to connect – to connect people in all walks of life, to bring light and strength to ideas, and to be an agent for change in the world.

Rat City Studios, where we live, work, garden, and make pottery is on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, The Duwamish People, past and present. We are long term-visitors and honor with gratitude the land itself and the Duwamish Tribe.