Best DIY Pottery In The Bay Area
A woman paints a spiral on a clay plate (credit: DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty Images)
The Do-It-Yourself, or DIY, mantra has swept this generation and enabled anyone to do anything. You can research, read or even watch videos online to learn or teach yourself anything from learning computer programs, cooking or working on your car. For artists looking to stretch out their pottery creativity, the choices are boundless. We take a look at some of the best studios throughout the Bay Area geared toward creating and designing your own pottery, whether you are looking to personalize an already created piece, to creating your own work and even learning how to work a kiln.
1314 Castro St.
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 642-9911
www.terramia.net
Established as one of the first pottery studios of its kind in Northern California, Terra Mia has created a place for your imagination to run wild. With blank pottery provided, you can choose just about any paint or decoration to create your very own masterpiece. Terra Mia also has classes, summer camp for the kids and you can make reservations for private parties.
641 San Anselmo Ave.
San Anselmo, CA 94960
(415) 456-5989
www.doodlebugmarin.com
You think pottery is just for kids? Well, at Doodlebug in Marin County, it actually is all about the kids. The perfect place for your little one to explore their creativity and break out their inner Picasso. With classes and camps offered throughout the year, kids not only get to learn how to create pottery on the wheel from clay, but there are also classes on sewing and painting.
1140 Lincoln Ave., Suite 5
San Jose, CA 95125
(408) 971-4278
www.petroglyph.com
With four conveniently located studios in the South Bay, creativity is boundless at Petroglyph. With knowledgeable and helpful staff, you get to pick a piece of white bisque pottery and let your artistic juices flow to create a one of a kind piece you can call your own. The post process, that they take care of for you, takes a few days before you can take your new food-safe artwork home for display or dinnerware.
187 Eddy St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 409-2448
www.theclayunderground.com
For the serious, or at least more experienced artists, The Clay Underground in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco is aimed to provide a creative environment for imagination to take a real life form. Although a community driven toward memberships of established and experienced artists, The Clay Underground also offers classes to everyone regardless of experience, young and adult, and even classes for the whole family to enjoy. For their members, they also have 24-hour access available, for your artistic flow no matter what time of day your creativity sparks.
1221 8th St.
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 528-3286
www.berkeleypottersstudio.com
As one of the top sculptors in San Francisco Bay Area, with works displayed from Sacramento to San Jose, John Toki's The Potter's Studio in Berkeley is the premier place for DIY pottery. With workshops, or better described, master classes, are available with John Toki himself, as well as 24/7 access and extensive training to even work the kiln yourself. If a monthly membership is not the right fit, or you are just looking for a place for a smaller project, The Potter's Studio also offers day use with one to five-day passes.
Andrew Wilson started a music webzine to photograph and write about his favorite artists. He quickly notoriety as both a writer and photographer, and has since been published to a variety of national news sites. Andrew resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and is pursuing a degree in landscape photography.
