The Clay Underground

Took a few drop in classes. So much fun. Ryan is excellent and has the patience to teach newbies like me. The studio is clean, spacious. Ryan takes his time to explain the techniques, encourages you when you loose the patience ;) and will suggest you tricks if you just don’t seem to get it right the regular way! The only problem, like others said is the location. The courses fill up quickly, and up until now i could not join a regular class.

This is not the best location or facility in San Francisco. Staffs are mean by not letting you inside of the building even 5mins before the open studio, however asking you to start cleaning up even 30mins prior to the noted ending time. It has a limited space and glaze options.
Though, Steve is nice and chill. His teaching style is more like letting you explore and figure out by making mistakes. Hands down for any help you ask for. I did enjoy learning from him, but I can’t give any more than 1 star for the studio sake.

I have taken 2 drop in classes on Saturday morning with Ryan. I like the format of the drop in class because you get to go at your own pace. I would hands down give The Clay Underground 5 stars if it weren’t for the location. I’ve been a San Franciscan resident for about 12 years and even though I support preserving certain neighborhoods, I really wouldn’t mind having the area cleaned up a bit. When you get to the studio, the door will be locked. You have to ring a doorbell to be let in.
Ryan is an amazing teacher. He’s very thorough, very patient and extremely nice. The class is very relaxed and there is no pressure to come out with a masterpiece.
Despite the location, I will probably buy a multiple class package (There’s a discount if you buy multiple classes). I have way too much fun in these classes. Looks like I’ve found a new hobby.

I took the six week class and thoroughly enjoyed it! We had Stephen «scruby» Ruby as our instructor, he was knowledgeable, super funny, and helped students work at the pace that was appropriate for them.
I only went to five of the six classes and didn’t attend any open studio hours. I disagree with the other review — you can produce multiple pieces just in the class time alone. If you have a clear piece in mind that you would like to produce, I would encourage you to tell the instructor and ask them to work with you on producing it.
Most importantly for me it was fun, and I feel like I learned a fair deal about ceramics & pottery.
I wish they had a less expensive tier access plan — I don’t want to fork over the $ 170ish monthly membership plan but would like the flexibility to access the studio outside of having to signup for a class ($ 240)

I’ve been wanting to take a ceramics class for years! I found this place on Unilocal and started a 6 week session. I took the class with Barbara, who was great but stepped down to do her own work halfway through the series. She passed the class on to Steve — He’s a good teacher and gives ample time to each student.
In order for the class to be worth it, you have to attend each one & all the open hours you’re allowed to; there’s never enough time to finish all your work. You can’t take any clay home to work on, everything must be made in the studio, which is difficult with a full time job. You can only go to one open hours session a week, & they were at awkward times:
Wednesday: 1:30−4:30
Thursday: 6−9pm
Saturday: 1−4pm
My last open hours would’ve been perfect to finish the ton of clay I had left over, but the studio decided to organize an extra community class without warning, so I was told I was out of luck. Also, I went back a week and a half after the class ended to pick up my crafts after they had been fired, and my leftover clay had been stolen :/​
Don’t get me wrong, it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. Overall, I’m glad I took the classes at the clay underground, but I won’t be doing it again (at least not here, I’d probably go to a studio that is more accommodating).

The Clay Underground is da bomb. Sure, the neighborhood is full of crackheads but that helps keep the rent affordable and the yuppies away.
Clean space, reasonable firing schedule, professional artists engaged in making real art in a community that supports collaboration and learning, as well as lone wolves.
Great art space!
Also, I’ve observed the classes and the teachers seem to be attentive, knowledgeable and not focused on making students make things on the teacher’s agenda.

I took the one-​time clay class (2 hours of throwing on the wheel for total beginners). It was a great introduction and certainly gave me appreciation for how difficult wheel pottery can be! Teacher was Stephen Ruby, who was encouraging, positive, and provided just the right amount of help. There were only 4 students in the class, so we all got a lot of attention. I thoroughly enjoyed the class, was able to make 2 pieces, and I only gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because of the location. I would definitely come again and even take a 6-​week class, but getting chased down Eddy street by a man with a golf club was a deterrent from returning.