The 16 best pottery classes in NYC

Learn how to create mugs, bowls, vases, candlesticks, and more during a fun two-hour session at Pottery Studio 1. Even if you're coming in with no experience, incredibly patient pro instructors will guide you through the pottery-making journey, from shaping the clay on the wheel to painting it. They'll help you create something that's a perfect fit for you.

In additon to drop-in classes for kids and adults, the studio offers plenty of events, like kids' parties, date nights, and bachelorette celebrations. Once you try a workshop, you might just be hooked, and there are long-term class options available, too.

Pottery Studio 1 has four studios across the city—in the Bowery, Upper West Side, Midtown, and Brooklyn. Studios are open until 9pm every single day, so you can head there after the workday ends for some relaxation. Classes start at $90.

Learning the basics of pottery can be a fun way to pick up a new hobby and meet new people. In this introductory pottery wheel throwing course, you’ll learn the foundational techniques utilized by potters to throw wet clay on a pottery wheel, allowing them to create large, complex pots, vases, and bowls with ease.

This is a beginner-friendly class aimed at teaching students the fundamentals of the pottery wheel, so even if you have no experience whatsoever, you can enroll in this course and get hands-on lessons in the ancient art of pottery. You’ll even be able to have your finished piece glazed, fired and ready for you to take home in a week.

When you think of pottery, you likely think of a wet clay pottery wheel, and regardless of whether or not you have any background in pottery, this class in Hell's Kitchen is an ideal introduction to the wheel. You’ll get hands-on experience working with clay to create pots, vases, mugs, all of which you’ll be able to fire and take home with you once the class is complete. This course is open to students of all skill-levels (though it is primarily beginner-focused) and is a great way for students to introduce themselves to the world of pottery.

If you are looking for an introduction to the world of pottery, consider this basic pottery wheel course from Ceramics on 10th. Participants will learn the art of working with a pottery wheel and the class aims to be as accessible as possible, being designed with total beginners in mind. You’ll get expert instruction on the art of wetting clay, utilizing the wheel with purpose and deliberate artistry and fundamental pottery skills that will carry you through all levels of training. If you are looking to learn pottery in a fun and accessible space, consider this course.

Instead of shelling out big bucks for handmade artisan tableware, be the artisan yourself. You’ll create your very own set of two plates, two bowls and four mugs during a five-hour class at this Greenpoint studio. Apply colored slips to the surface of each piece to create speckled or striped patterns in blue, pink, red, black or gray. Your friends won’t believe you didn’t pick them up at some trendy outdoor market.

This Williamsburg ceramics studio offers a good range of classes for adults, from one-day wheel workshops to more focused workshops involving pottery-making techniques and styles. Keep an eye out for social events like the BYOB Sip & Spin sessions, or host a pottery party with your friends. And if you have kids that want to get involved in a pottery class or two? The kids classes are pretty good, too. 

Once you’ve begun to understand the basics of wheel throwing, you can up your game by enrolling in this week-long, small group, immersive wheel throwing course. You’ll learn fundamental pottery skills and by the end of the course, you’ll be ready to take on advanced challenges and design projects.

The course operates in a workshop format, so you’ll spend most of the fifteen hours getting hands-on pottery experience and you’ll work with your cohort (and some advanced students) to critique and review your work. This course is a great way for beginners and advanced potters alike to get hands-on training, including time spent glazing and firing their pieces.

If the pottery wheel seems intimidating or you want to work on a project that requires more fine detail and control, you could opt to enroll in a handbuilding workshop and learn the art of working with hand clay. 

During this course in Brooklyn, participants will craft their own personalized mug or bowl out of clay. With the help of an instructor, students will learn how to shape, mold and utilize hand clay and they will learn the finer arts of ensuring that the clay is perfectly shaped to serve as a functional piece of dishware. For an added fee, students can have their finished projects glazed and fired.

In this immersive hand building workshop in Brooklyn, students will get the chance to learn the art of crafting and shaping ceramics. This course will see participants working with hand clay and creating handmade mugs, plates, and planters. Then, they will work in the traditional Japanese art of Nerikomi, a process of making patterns with colored clay. This course aims to be therapeutic and relaxing, creating an open and inviting space for potters of all levels. As with most pottery classes, you’ll have your work glazed, fired and ready for pick up later.

While polymer clay gets something of a bad reputation, this colorful and moldable clay has come a long way in the last few decades, as the coloring has gotten more consistent, longer lasting and more customizable. In this introductory polymer clay workshop, students will learn how to blend colors of clay and shape them to create patterns that mimic millefiori, mosaic tiles, wood, stone, or even ceramics to adorn jewelry or other small objects.

One of the best aspects of polymer clay is that it is much easier to fire, since it can be heated in a toaster oven and requires much less baking time, so you’ll be able to walk out of the workshop with your finished object in hand.

Looking for a more complex pottery experience? Consider enrolling in the 92nd Street Y’s ceramic music box workshop. In this course, participants will choose a tune and spend the afternoon crafting and painting a ceramic kinetic sculpture that will “dance” to the music as part of a music box. Then, once the sculpture is completed, it will be glazed, fired and assembled, all you’ll need to do is pick it up. This workshop is a great family experience and a way to make an unforgettable gift for a loved one.

This charming art studio and cafe in Lower Manhattan gives you the space and freedom to make art of all kinds, from pottery to painting.

You can opt into a guided class such as pottery, figure drawing classes, large canvas painting and chair-building; or you can reserve a spot in the Art Cafe, which has a menu of art experiences you can “order” and do alone or with friends.

For $28 per person at the Art Cafe, you can enjoy painting a pre-made pot, making air-dry pottery, doing a watercolor painting, making a collage or working with charcoal, pastels and more—all materials are provided!

If you are looking to organize a group function, team-building event, party or celebration, a pottery workshop can be a really fun way to socialize and give attendees the chance to express their creativity. Plus, everyone will leave with a practical creation of their own to put on display, put to use or gift to someone special to them. These events are fun and engaging ways to make any corporate event, birthday party, reunion or family gathering all the more memorable.

Hand clay building workshops are a great way to spend an evening with a group as part of a low-stakes, super accessible art event. Participants will shape their own mugs, cups, bowls or small planters out of air-drying hand clay as an instructor gives them an overview of how to create vibrant and unique shapes, patterns and designs that will make each of their pieces special to the creator. This DIY program comes with all of the supplies you’ll need (and since it is air drying clay, you won’t need to fire the product) and, as an added bonus, you’ll get the paints needed to add color and life to your finished piece.

More adventurous groups in NYC may want to give a go of a group wheel throwing pottery course. Like the hand clay workshop, this event in Williamsburg gives all of your participants the chance to make functional and beautiful clay pots, bowls, containers or art pieces.

Everyone will get their own studio space and pottery wheel and they can watch one another work as an instructor provides personalized feedback and support to help everyone make the perfect piece of pottery (that will be fired and available for pick up within four weeks). While more involved than a hand clay workshop, this event is a rewarding experience for groups of all sizes and skill levels.

Learn how to create mugs, bowls, vases, candlesticks, and more during a fun two-hour session at Pottery Studio 1. Even if you're coming in with no experience, incredibly patient pro instructors will guide you through the pottery-making journey, from shaping the clay on the wheel to painting it. They'll help you create something that's a perfect fit for you.

In additon to drop-in classes for kids and adults, the studio offers plenty of events, like kids' parties, date nights, and bachelorette celebrations. Once you try a workshop, you might just be hooked, and there are long-term class options available, too.

Pottery Studio 1 has four studios across the city—in the Bowery, Upper West Side, Midtown, and Brooklyn. Studios are open until 9pm every single day, so you can head there after the workday ends for some relaxation. Classes start at $90.

If you want to make the evening of clay sculpting, just add wine and beer. In this enjoyable, social sip and sculpt event, you and your party will work with moldable clay to create lifelike (or uncanny) busts of a human figure (you can request a male or female model).

Your instructor will guide you through the detailed process of capturing the human form in clay relief and everyone will have the opportunity to bring their own beverages to drink and share. This is an immersive artistic experience and everyone will leave the class with a clay bust to serve as a reminder of the event and the good times had by all.