Northern Clay Center — Attraction in Minneapolis

I signed up for my first pottery classes since high school ceramics over 30 years ago and was super excited. 4 weeks of a class (1 3 hours class each week) spread out over 5 weeks which averaged about $50 a class. Included was a bag of clay, kiln firings and glazes. Tools and brushes are not included (I'd encourage you to buy them from Amazon if you're trying to save money).

Also, included is endless amounts of student time where if you're going to take one of there pottery classes is where you'll get the most benefit. I spent on average 12 hours each week in studio hours outside of class to practice and make pots.

However, what you don't know when you sign up is that there are deadlines for when you have to stop making pots. Ours was we had to be done and the work had to be leatherhard by the end of the 2nd to last class. Our class was also on Fridays so we even the shortest end of the stick by not being able to benefit from being able to finish up work beyond the class period as other classes that ended earlier in the week had been able to do. Thus, essentially we had only 2ish classes to do pottery. The 3rd class we learned glazing and frantically had to finish trimming and hopefully have time to throw and have the work dry by end of class, then trim it to be ready for firing. Of course I wasn't able to make this extreme deadline so am left with pieces that need to be dried and trimmed which seems like a waste.

When you pay for 4 courses I think more of the time should be devoted to getting to spend the entire duration working on pieces and if there is a deadline making it a hard (fair) deadline that is consistent for all of the courses. Also, making this aspect of the pottery curriculum clear when you sign up and not something that you gradually learn about on the first day or after. It made me feel misled.

Life is about learning though. $212 is an expensive lesson though. Hoping this review gives others an idea of what to expect when they're signing up for their first pottery course with...

The place itself seems really cool, there are lots of interesting pieces displayed throughout the building.

After taking a class there though, it seems like it’s more designed to be a art gallery/studio for professional artists that somewhere for learning. I took a 3 hour class that seemed from the description like it was meant for beginners, but that didn’t seem to be the case. The instructor went through a demo at the beginning in about 10 minutes and quickly showed all the steps, but then it kind of felt like we were on our own. She sat in the middle most of class and didn’t come over unless I went and asked her, and she didn’t seem particularly interested in helping. Maybe my expectations were just off, but in classes I’ve taken, the instructor is usually walking around the whole time to make sure everyone is on track, but this felt more like open studio time with a staff member present. After four attempts, we were pretty much out of time and I wasn’t able to make anything. I wasn’t expecting whatever I made to look perfect by any means, but I did expect to leave with something. I think I would have been fine if I had some experience, but I definitely wouldn’t recommend...

I would not recommend this place for the kids summer camps. My daughter did a week long camp that was 3 hours a day for $245. She was able to make some really pretty pieces, but over half of them came back unfinished/unglazed. After reaching out they were very unhelpful. They said you have to have your pieces done in the first 3 days of camp otherwise they will not be glazed. I asked if there could be an opportunity to come in and fire her pieces and it was a hard no. They even recommended I go somewhere else to have this done. Bad customer service and bad overall experiece. Spend your money...