If you look at handmade bowls and vases and wonder how they’re made, you’ll enjoy our list of 8 free or cheap pottery classes in NYC where you can learn to craft your own masterpieces.
Way way back in the day, pottery was the only way people could get pots for their everyday use. However, things have obviously drastically changed since then. Nowadays, pottery has become a mere hobby, and also a form of art. Now that I think of it, pottery was pretty much always a form of art, but back in the day it also had functionality. Looking at beautifully handcrafted pottery has always given me immense pleasure, unfortunately, I do not have the necessary skills to shape a lump of clay into an object of beauty. But, you just might have what it takes to create amazing art in the form of pottery. You’ll never know if you don’t take an opportunity to try it out though. If you live in the vicinity of New York City, then I think today’s list is going to be quite useful for you, as we share our findings with you regarding cheap or free pottery classes in New York City. If you are interested in other types of art alongside pottery, then I recommend that you check out our list of 6 Free Art Classes in NYC For Adults, you are sure to find something that piques your interest as well.
For our today’s endeavors, we did heavy searching on the internet, but one particular website managed to grab our attention. That helpful tool would be Class Curious. Guys over at Class Curious have an immense database regarding all sorts of classes in New York City. If you are like me and are comfortable trying out new things often, I would definitely recommend their services to you. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any free classes (this is New York we’re talking about), but we did find some with prices under $100. Now that said, like any other ranked article, we will start our list with the most expensive option, and at the very end of our list, you will find the least expensive option for pottery classes in New York City.
Since you are still reading, I am sure you are pretty excited to learn about today’s article. So let’s take a look at 8 free or cheap pottery classes in NYC.
8. Intro. to the Wheel at Mugi Pottery
Location: Manhattan
Cost: $75
If you have no idea where to start when it comes to pottery, the kind people at Mugi Pottery are glad to help you get started. Their introductory class teaches you the basics of managing a pottery wheel. You’ll get your hands dirty with clay spinning and centering and pulling up the walls of the clay. It takes longer than one class session to finish a piece of pottery though. Once you feel comfortable on the wheel, you can sign up for one of their full class series. Now, let’s see what else we have on our list of free or cheap pottery classes in NYC.
7. Sip & Spin Pottery Workshop by Choplet Ceramic Studio
Location: Brooklyn
Cost: $72
As it turns out, pottery classes require a lot of expensive stuff. In this particular class, you can join as an individual or a group of friends. The main attraction of this class is that you can bring your favorite drink with you, and sip it while you work the pottery wheel. Keep in mind, that might get a little messy, considering you’re spinning clay. This class has pretty high user rating all across the internet. So, I think this is a solid entry to include in our list. 
6. Wheel Throwing Pottery (Weekend) by Choplet Ceramic Studio
Location: Brooklyn
Cost: $72
At number 6 on our list of free or cheap pottery classes in NYC we again have a class offered by Choplet Ceramic Studio at a similar cost. However, this time around the class takes place on weekends exclusively. As you can see the price range is equal to our previous entrant. If you have your hands full during the weekdays, then you can easily participate in this class and kindle the creativity in you. If you ask me, these classes are a very welcome alternative to laying back and watching TV throughout your weekends. 
5. Raku Surfaces and Firing by Pioneer Works
Location: Brooklyn
Cost: $70
I would say this is a bit of an advanced clay working and pottery class, as the primary focus of this class is to demonstrate the Raku firing technique with the emphasis on glazing and surface design of the pottery and artworks that you made. On the surface of things, pottery is pretty simple, you make a pot and then you fire it up to give it a permanent shape. However, once you head into decorating the stuff you make, things get pretty complicated, very quickly. There are hundreds of techniques to learn and thousands of materials to practice with. If you are into pottery and clay working, this class is a must for you.
4. Clay Soiree by Yonkers Pottery
Location: Yonkers
Cost: $60
This class is quite welcoming to both absolute beginners and intermediate students of pottery making. If you have your Fridays off, then I cannot think of anything better to do than join the class at Yonkers Pottery. It’s 10 dollars cheaper than the ones already listed and people there know quite a lot about pottery making, making it a great contender on our list of 8 free or cheap pottery classes in NYC. So, if you have 60 dollars burning a hole in your pocket, and nothing to do on Fridays, then I highly recommend that you take the time to enroll.
3. Private Hand Building or Wheel Throwing by The Potter’s Wheel
Location: Manhattan
Cost: $50
Hand building is how people first started to mold clay into beautiful objects, like plates, mugs, cups and even sculptures. If you want to learn pottery, then you must also learn how to hand build stuff. It is an important technique to master before you move on to other advanced techniques. Wheel throwing came much later, however, and is now the standard method of making pottery around the world. Therefore, learning it is an absolute must to learn if you are into pottery. Thankfully, you can learn the basics from classes offered by The Potter’s Wheel that ranked 3rd on the list of free or cheap pottery classes in NYC.
2. Adult Introductory Handbuilding Workshop by Tribeca ClayWorks
Location: Manhattan
Cost: $50
I think you can make a decent assumption regarding what the class is going to be like, just from the title of the class. Yes, this class is going to be all about hand building, an ancient technique that has been perfected over the years since its inception. Hand building is not the fastest way to make pottery, but it certainly is the most fun. Through hand building you can create something tangible that is straight from your heart. Creating something is immense fun, but when you create something literally using your own two hands, then it just beats anything else.
1. Handbuilding: Clay (Adult) by Baked in Brooklyn
Location: Brooklyn
Cost: $45
At the pinnacle of our article about free or cheap pottery classes in NYC, we have a hand building with clay class for adults offered by Baked in Brooklyn. It is the cheapest pottery class we could find in NYC, even at $45 per person. The class schedule is also quite flexible, and pretty much anyone can attend the classes if they are interested. While you are on their website, do take the time to go through various other pottery classes that they are offering right now, and I am sure you will be able to find something, if you are not into hand building. If you have no problem with hand building, then just stick to this one and you will be fine.
This was our list of 8 free or cheap pottery classes in NYC. Hopefully, you loved reading through our list and found it useful.
