BKLYN CLAY — Local services in New York

I’m extremely torn… I took a 12wk course with Katie Coughlin (no longer works at the studio) in order to make space for my mental health and general play outside of my tech based job and fell in love with wheel throwing. BKLYN CLAY felt like a safe space to learn and experiment. And I was actually good at it! So, I decided to sign up again for the 10wk summer course. My first class with Kelley Donahue was awful. She berated and humiliated me in front of the other students and spoke poorly of me to my friend who joined the class with me. The other students called her “intense” in her absence and all admitted she made the space uncomfortable. I left the class early due to anxiety over the interactions. I ended up never going back because of the anxiety surrounding that experience and subsequent encounters I might have with her in the classroom. I shelled out $600 to help my anxiety and learn ceramics, not to make my anxiety 10x worse and spend money on a class I never...

...this place ain't it. My friends and I paid $85 per person for a 2-hour ceramics class, only to be told by the instructor: 1) it took her an entire semester to learn how to properly make an item on the wheel; and 2) this class was for educational purposes only and we would be throwing away anything that we created. But hey, the skills you learn will be with you forever! I fully planned on buying a kiln and opening a workshop in my apartment, but alas, I don't have enough space. The roach that was pacing back and forth during the entirety of the class (he probably also spent $85 to audit it) agrees. At the end of our session after tossing our work in the garbage, we were told that we also had to clean up our spaces, which took up 10-15 min of our 2-hour session. Sadly the only Patrick Swayze/Ghost vibes I received were the ones where I wanted to no longer exist...

Took the $85 try out night. Had to write the review the minute I leave the place. Totally feel the money is wasted and nothing to enjoy for the night. The instructor showed you all the steps at the beginning. There’s no way for a first time nubie to remember everything. By the time you started, she wouldn’t come close to demonstrate, even it is a 8 ppl night. She talks like a machine, repeating all the steps, but offers zero help. Class was finished 20 minutes early to ask people to clean. Paid $85 with nothing to bring home, minimum instructions and cleaning for 20 minutes. I was hoping to enjoy the try out and maybe register for the semester....