ARTime Barro — Attraction in Costa Mesa

I tried out the Wheel Thrown Planter Class on 17Feb - and my overall experience wasn't pleasant. I bought this via Groupon, and the final cost was $62. The class was supposed to be an hour, and even with us starting a few mins past 5pm (as we tried waiting for another student that hadn't arrived yet, who ended up as no-show), we still finished by around 5:45. The amount of clay we had was not proportionate to the allocated time of session or price paid (clay amount was too little). But the main reason the above factors even became factors was due to the experience of the class. There were only 3 students ( a couple and then myself ) for one teacher. Given such a small group of people, you would expect to feel included. However, throughout the teachers demonstration of how to make the pieces, she only had eye contact with the other two students and blatantly didn't look at me (was only consistently talking and looking at the couple beside me). For the benefit of doubt - Maybe it's because the Class started out with the teacher asking if anyone has prior experience - for which I replied I have tried wheel thrown ceramics once before, while the couple said it's their first time. But personally, for such an intimate sized group class, I wouldn't have expected to feel so evidently excluded. Proceeding to then when we were making the planters ourselves, I further felt the way the teacher spoke to me was not as enthusiastic as it was to the couple beside me. I had gone into the class expecting to have a good time, a social activity for Saturday evening and hoping to sign up for regular classes post this session - to leaving the class feeling unwelcomed, excluded, and lonely. Regardless of if I had one class experience before or not, if I was there by myself or not, or whatever else reason the teacher may have had for that behavior, I think as a teaching class - you need to provide equal attention especially when the class size is extremely small, and you have paid a relatively high amount, for the lesson. Given this, I definitely feel I overpaid and is not worth the time or money spent - and would not be comfortable going there again.

P.S. I don't know the teachers name, as we barely spoke - I didn't have the need to even address her. But she was young and maybe this review could be taken as constructive criticism to becoming a better teacher/instructor for others...

My husband booked a class at this place and the night of our class we arrived a little early so there were ppl seated/working, there are clear signs every where that say not to interrupt classes in session and to wait outside. We stood outside patiently and kept getting weird side eye stares from the woman inside. We kind of walked away because we felt like we were bothering her but our class time approached and we didn't want to miss anything so we went back in front of the door and she continued to stare. Finally a nice white guy approached us and confirmed we were there for his class. The energy was really weird almost like our instructor was interrupting the other instructors class. Anyway he was really nice and patient with us and we had a good time. The woman left without saying bye or ever greeting us. Two weeks or so later we get instructions to pick up our art and when we arrive on a Saturday around 1pm there was no parking so I had to drop my husband off to grab the stuff-15 mins later he texts me that hes not sure what to do because hes waiting outside trying not to interrupt but the woman inside is purposely ignoring him (different woman from last time). Another 10 mins later I park in a fire lane to see what's going on and there he was still standing outside being ignored so I openly asked where to find our stuff and she blatantly makes eye contact and looks away! So my husband and I just helped ourselves and rummaged through a bunch of bags (pretty common names michelle/dillon so we had to open bags to confirm ours). Sort of sucked all the fun out of the experience every time we look at our stuff were like "the place with grumpy women" geesh. Won't bother spending our time/money here again...

I was very excited to come take a class with my 3 friends here. Unfortunately we did not have a good experience. We first walked in and they just stared at us. No hello or anything. It was very awkward. We eventually asked if the class is starting and waited outside until the teacher was ready. The teacher was not friendly, in fact she didn't even introduce herself so I don't know who she was or her name. She has dark brown hair and looked young. It was our first time doing pottery, and we did not get a welcoming feeling at all. She ended up taking over the wheel for 3 of us and didn't let us learn ourselves. We could tell she was frustrated that we didn't know what we were doing. It is a class... the whole point is to teach us? We felt very uncomfortable and judged. Then, I get an email that our pieces were ready and when we went to pick them up, they couldn't find two pieces. They said we should have called before. Which is interesting, because before our appointment and after I had called the studio various times and nobody answers. Anyway, two of the pieces ended up shattering so my friend ended up with nothing. They did not return her money either. Pretty disappointed in our experience. We will not be coming back. If you are already skilled in ceramics, maybe this place better fits you. Don't come here if you are looking for nice people...