Deborah Schwartzkopf has degrees from the University of Alaska in Anchorage, and from Penn State. Her teachers have included Steve Godfrey, Robert Banker, Liz Quackenbush and Chris Staley. She received the Lilian Fellowship during her Archie Bray residency. Since grad school, she has had a dizzying schedule of teaching as a visiting professor at Ohio University, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and the Harvard Community Arts Program, as well as numerous workshops across the country. Currently she is an artist in residence and teacher at Pottery Northwest.