March 31 - April 10 Our Ceramics trip has so much to it, that we’ve made it an eleven day format. This unprecedented Artful Adventure transcends time and space as we first travel inland to the heartland of the northern Mayan people; Tikul, Yucatan, and finish with a week of contemporary ceramics at our beach location on the ocean. Ceramics was an important medium for the Mayans for communicating information, telling stories, and for art itself. In Tikul, we work in the renowned ArteMaya studio, where lessons take us on an exploration of ancient Mayan clay making and ceramic painting. After carefully burnishing your artwork, you learn the secrets of ‘aging’ and how to make your replica piece appear as if it was extracted from an archeological site dating from the Mayan classic period.
Fast forward from this background of ancient Mayan voices to our beach studio where it’s time to play in the clay and discover your own creative voice inspired by the brilliant hues, contrasting shapes and sensuous forms of the Caribbean. Experience intermingles with art as coral, bits of old sea life, vegetation, or bamboo found on a beach walk become tools for pressing textured impressions into the soft clay of your hand built piece. Vases, tiles, sculptures, plates, mask making; there’s a profusion of outcomes for your ceramics expressions. Yucatan tropical nights, enchanting in themselves, become even more so as we gather in anticipation around the kiln, awaiting the inevitable surprises that glazes, special effects and racu firings bring to the finished artworks.
Kevin Caufield is a pillar of our Yucatan Artful Adventures and for good reason. His great energy and expertise infuses the workshops and inspires participants to truly explore with the clay. Kevin hails from St. Paul, MN where he owns his own art studio; Caufield Clay Works and is on the faculty of the Northern Clay Center. Kevin views the process of design, working and firing clay, as performance art; a holistic approach where anything goes and everything works! A specialty of Kevin's is primitive firings; you will build both a raku kiln and a teepee style wood fired kiln on the beach (wind permitting).
Don Luis Echeverria is renowned as a Mayan ceramicist and for his work and lifetime studies in restoring Mayan ceramics pieces found in archeological excavations. Sr. Echeverria is co-founder of Arte Maya, the studio we visit in Tikul, which over the years has hosted several noted Mayan ceramics masters for their studies. We feel privileged to have this time with Don Luis, whose work in the US has included a piece in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a modern restoration of the façade of the Aveda Corporate center in New York. Kevin and Don Luis, like many of our Artful Adventure co-instructors, have formed a deep friendship nurtured by their common passion for clay art and teaching. Both those new to working in ceramics, and those with previous experience, will find great learning and inspiration from these remarkable mentors. CERAMICS TRIP PHOTO GALLERY

Day 1	Fly to Cancun, arriving before noon. Group members gather at a nearby restaurant and then drive (2 hrs.) to Valladolid for our first night at hotel Meson del Marques.
Day 2	Drive to Tikul, (2-3 hrs.) and check in at Hotel Plaza where we stay through Saturday night. Next we’ll drive out to ArteMaya, meet our teachers, Don Luis Echeverria and Lourdes Ganzales, and start our ceramics adventure with the first workshop session.
Day 3-4	Daily workshop sessions at ArteMaya. All of our meals during these days are served at Arte Maya and are incredible, featured authentic Yucatecan cuisine that is primarily served at important holidays. Evenings we are entertained by a variety of musical presentations including a performance by the community Jarana dancers and a string combo of which Don Louis is a singer and guitar player.
Day 5	Wrap up at ArteMaya and head for the beach! We’ll get an early start; it’s a full day of driving to get to Tulum, down the beach road into the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, and to our seaside home at Rancho Caphe Ha.
Day 6-10	Each day is a mix of activities designed according to ceramics workshop sessions, weather and recreational pursuits. Each evening, the next day’s itinerary of ceramics sessions will be discussed and planned according to where we are in the sequence of clay making, glazing and firing. Around those times, we’ll go sea kayaking, snorkeling, enjoy swimming and walking the beach, and relaxing. Remember; this is YOUR trip! You can choose to partake in as much or little of any planned (or unplanned) activities that you wish.
Day 11	An early start from Rancho Caphe Ha. We’ll travel to Playa Del Carmen in time to get an airport taxi for our trip guest with the earliest flight back to the US. Others spend the day exploring, shopping and enjoying Playa until they need to also head to the airport.

SPECIFICS 

• The trip cost is $1,825. Special pricing available for groups.
• There is an additional materials cost, typically $85, for your pre-made ceramics vase.
  
• This includes all major expenses; instruction, equipment, lodging, food, land travel in Mexico.
• It does not include airfare, meals while traveling, certain taxi costs, alcoholic beverages, fees for outings, or tips; in Mexico it is customary to tip for services and we pool a tip for the caretakers who provide various services during the week.
• A non-refundable deposit of $250 is required to secure a reservation
• After securing a reservation you will receive a folder of information including; balance due and cancellation terms, a map of the area, suggested clothing and equipment list, reading materials on the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, travel and health requirements for Mexico. You will be given a medical/dietary information form and an acknowledgment of risk waiver to complete, sign and send back to this office
• Airline reservations can be limited - don't wait too long. We are glad to make recommendations and help you with your travel arrangements.