Made with Paper: A Week of Creative Transformation at Oaxaca art workshop
The morning light streams through our big studio windows here at Talismán Oaxaca, in a valley surrounded by mountains, and you’ll feel the urge to create in this unique environment. Our studio sits a few minutes outside the city center, nestled in the cornfields where chickens scratch in the dirt, sheep and goats wander nearby, and our burro Luna brays her morning greeting. It’s a magical setting for our Made with Paper Workshop: mask making with barro papel (clay paper) + mixed media collage – a weeklong immersion into art, culture, and the kind of creative transformation that stays with you long after you return home.
The Art of Barro Papel
At the heart of this workshop is barro papel – clay paper – a Oaxacan art form similar to papier-mâché but with its own distinct character. It’s a blend of paper pulp, clay, and glue that doesn’t require firing in a kiln, making it sturdy and endlessly expressive. Under the guidance of Pedro Cruz Pacheco, our Oaxacan artist instructor, you’ll create whimsical, free-form masks limited only by your imagination.
These aren’t traditional ceremonial masks – they’re playful explorations. You could craft fantastical creatures with exaggerated features or explore more abstract forms. “Don’t think too much,” Pedro says. “Let the material tell you what it wants to become.”
This permission to play without worrying about perfection becomes the foundation of the week. Whether you’re returning to art after years away or you’re a seasoned maker, barro papel meets you where you are. And there’s something about working in this rural setting – the sounds of farm animals, the rustle of corn stalks, the slower pace – that loosens self-criticism and invites pure creative play.
Pedro with barro papel masks & sculpture
Mixed Media and Mark-Making
Beyond mask-making, we explore mixed media collage. Corrie McCluskey guides you in mark-making experimentation to develop your unique visual voice using India ink and handmade brushes – brushes we’ll make from natural plant materials found around the property. We’ll also create a simple saddle-stitched artist book using exquisite handmade paper crafted by a master Oaxacan papermaker.
You’ll discover how different brushes and your body’s movements create varied effects on paper. You’ll find the marks that resonate with you – bold contrasty forms, delicate lines, swirls. The cultural immersion you’re experiencing naturally seeps into your work: patterns from woven textiles, colors from the markets, stories from artisan studios all become part of your visual voice.
Meeting Master Artisans: The Heart of Our Workshops
Our workshops are different. We combine art making with cultural immersion, taking you directly to the source. Throughout the week, carefully curated field trips bring you face-to-face with master artisans in their private workspaces; in the afternoons and evenings after class, you’re free to explore the gorgeous city center.
You’ll visit a master papermaker in his studio in a pueblo outside the city. Natural fibers are boiled and pounded – maguey and ixtle fibers, corn husks, pochote cotton. The air smells of plant material and water. Your host walks you through the entire process with remarkable generosity, explaining how different fibers create different paper qualities, demonstrating the careful work of pulping and screening, discussing the history of paper throughout.
You’re not just observing – you’re participating. Your hands plunge into vats of pulp. You make your own sheet of paper, feeling the fibers mesh together under your fingers, understanding what “handmade” truly means.
You’ll spend an afternoon with a master weaving family, watching skilled hands work looms with decades of practiced rhythm. You’ll learn about natural pigments gathered locally and carefully prepared for the dye pot, and the slow process of preparing and dyeing sheep’s wool.
You’ll meet the women of the red clay collective – the Mujeres del Barro Rojo – guardians of their community’s pottery traditions, shaping clay without a wheel using techniques passed down through generations of grandmothers, mothers, daugthers. You’ll visit a famed art center housed in a renovated textile factory and stand before the renowned ancient tree of Tule, one of the world’s oldest and largest trees.
These are intimate afternoons where you sit with artisans, hear their stories, understand the cultural significance woven into every piece they create, and recognize your own role in preserving these traditions. This is transformative travel – you come to understand that buying directly from artisans, learning their processes, and honoring their work truly matters.
The Rhythm of the Week
The week follows a natural rhythm: structured art instruction balanced with space for personal exploration and cultural immersion. Mornings often begin in our countryside studio, working with barro papel or collage while chickens and ducks wander past the windows. There’s something grounding about creating in this setting – it reminds you that art-making doesn’t require fancy studios, just willing hands and an open heart.
Afternoons might take you into villages to meet artisans or offer free creative time to follow your own impulses. The itinerary includes a guided street art tour through Oaxaca’s vibrant Jalatlaco barrio, revealing contemporary creativity alongside ancient traditions. Then you return to the studio in the cornfields, bringing the energy and inspiration back to your rural sanctuary.
Throughout the week, you’ll experience what one participant called an “exquisite environment” – the natural beauty of our countryside setting, the colonial charm of downtown Oaxaca, and the intimate atmosphere created when a small group comes together to make, learn, and grow. People at different points in their creative journeys, all supporting each other – fellow travelers seeking beauty, meaning, and connection.
You’ll share delicious meals together at local spots off the tourist path, discovering tlayudas, moles, and mezcals. The bonds formed over a week of making together become one of the most cherished aspects of the experience.
Beyond Tourist Oaxaca
Many visitors to Oaxaca never make it past the historic city center – the zócalo, the churches, the craft markets. Our workshop takes you out further to the heart of this ancient place: studios in far-flung pueblos, countryside where traditional life continues, streets where daily Oaxacan life unfolds. You’ll experience Oaxaca through new eyes, understanding the city and its villages not as a backdrop for photos, but as a living center of creativity and cultural preservation.
You’ll discover vibrant street art covering walls throughout the city. You’ll wander markets where locals shop, observing the abundance of produce, the rainbow of chiles, the flowers and textiles and foods that make Oaxacan culture so rich. And you’ll work in an authentically Oaxacan studio – a real workspace in the countryside where the rhythm of rural life becomes part of your creative experience.
This deeper engagement transforms how you experience place. You’re not just visiting – you’re connecting, learning, understanding.
The Transformation
By week’s end, participants have clay under their fingernails, ink stains on their hands, whimsical masks and collages made by hand, and hearts full of stories. They’ve pushed outside their comfort zones, accomplished things they didn’t expect, and made memories that stay with them.
But the real transformation is subtler. You return home with new skills, perspective, empathy, and authentic connections. You’ve gained insight into your creative practice and what it needs – time and attention. You’ve experienced what happens when you slow down, play, and let go of perfection. You’ve seen the importance of preserving traditional crafts and supporting artisan communities. You’ve discovered that creativity isn’t a luxury to be postponed.
The artists who join our workshops often say: “I wish I hadn’t waited so long.” They come seeking creative renewal and leave with more – memories, friendships, skills, confidence, and a rekindled fire for making.
This Is Transformative Travel
People are seeking travel that means something – experiences that offer stories, growth, and perspective. They want genuine human connection, meaningful cultural immersion, and experiences that leave them changed. Our Made with Paper workshop embodies this. It’s not about escaping your life; it’s about remembering what matters, reigniting your creative fire, and recognizing that art, connection, and culture shouldn’t be postponed.
Over the week, you’ll work with barro papel and mixed media in our countryside studio. You’ll meet master artisans who generously share their worlds, explore the real Oaxaca, and join a small group of fellow travelers who become creative companions. You’ll be challenged, supported, and surprised by what you’re capable of creating.
Made with Paper Workshop: mask making with barro papel (clay paper) + mixed media collage
Dates: March 20-29, 2026
Instructors: Pedro Cruz Pacheco + Corrie McCluskey
Location: Oaxaca, Mexico
Click HERE for complete workshop information & registration