SEED

We scheduled a private event for a team building for work and had a blast. Our instructor was Abby. We had originally scheduled for a bigger group, but only three people showed up. Studio setup easily accommodated 6 and I assumed they set up a different configuration for more. Our team had ZERO EXPERIENCE with wheel throwing but got to start working with the wheel right away. Abby didn't use a wheel herself but instead put her hands in the air to show us how to make the clay do what we needed. She went through the basics steps and then we got to repeat until time was up. She was helpful and responded to questions on how to do more or less of something. She also walked around and intervened when we looked like we were going awry or we're about to really mess something up. For a one time event, don't plan to be good at it, but we had fun anyways!

I hate to be giving this place one star, but here we are.I had very high hopes for SEED. I thought it would be the ceramics studio that Sacramento desperately needs. It is not. Though it is a POC-owned business that claims it's a safe space for makers in the community, SEED is a very unsafe space for anyone, POC or not. It's a damn shame, and it's all due to the owner, Sioux, AKA management. Management is moodier than a teenaged child. When you walk through the doors of SEED, you never know if you're going to get someone who hates your guts or your bestest art friend. I paid too much money to SEED for five months and I'm not sure if Sioux liked me or not. Leaning towards not, and definitely not after this review, but who knows if he'll even read it? In his own words, people "leave bad reviews about me all the time". That's not a badge of honor, dude. That's a sign that maybe you've got to do some work on yourself. Because of that, I hated going in when he was there. It just felt like walking on eggshells. So I never went in when he was there, and he is always there, so eventually, I stopped going in, paying $215 (is it still 215? Or is it more now because he decided to raise prices without communicating to existing members) for maybe one or two visits to the studio per month, usually at night or on the weekends because he wouldn't be there. When he was absent from the studio due to covid or NCECA, a ceramics conference, it was great! It was chill. It was relaxing.My wariness can also be attributed to the fact that my first week at the studio, the two other cofounders left. Like they just packed their shit and left without saying a word. They cited verbal abuse from the owner. Throughout my time at SEED, I watched as more folks left saying similar things.When I asked Sioux about what's going to happen to the studio, he was confident about staying open. One could say he was even too confident, bragging about how he's the best person ever, better than everyone else, he's an artist and a studio owner and someone with a long history of working in the food industry and therefore understands the intricacies of being a ceramics instructor and customer service. Sioux primarily relies on instructing new students so he can rope them into a signing up for a membership to keep the studio going. From the few times I was in the studio, he's just as condescending to students when he's instructing. Come on, man, people are here because they want to learn, not because they want to get talked down to.At SEED, students come before everyone else. The hierarchy is students, members, residents, and work-trade. If you are work-trade, expect to get the shit end of the stick and passive-aggressiveness, especially if you don't do things exactly the way God intended. If you're a student, everything is laid out for you on the website. If you want to be a member or a resident or work-trade, you've got to email or come in to talk to Sioux. Good luck with emailing, sometimes it takes a while to get a response. And good luck with going in, too.SEED operates on the owner's whims. Policies are changed, prices are updated with little to no transparency. When a policy is updated, I noticed Sioux would try to talk to members individually, but that's kind of hard to do when people are avoiding coming into the studio because of him. There's no structure for communication in place. No email lists for communicating upcoming changes. There's a Slack channel, but it's crickets in there. Firing schedules were created, and then thrown to the wind if Sioux had a commission. I understand it's Sioux's own business, but when you're catering to others, maybe actually employ your super wonderful and amazing customer service skills that you couldn't stop bragging about.All of the folks (except one) I've talked to at SEED share a similar sentiment about the owner making the studio an unsafe space and feeling uncomfortable and wanting to leave. Do yourself a favor and skip this place. It'll save you a lot of stress of eventually walking on eggshells and being talked down on. Truly.SEED is not a safe space for anyone remotely interested in clay. Save yourself the time because like everyone else, you'll probably be leaving eventually.

Attended just one of a series of classes I paid for because the instructor was not someone I want to learn from. Such unpleasant vibes. Won't be recommending this place and have been telling friends to steer clear,

For months I had been saving up and really looking forward to learning more about making pottery at the introductory four week class that I'd seen advertised on Instagram. However, I ended up deeply disappointed with the experience. On a positive note, the studio was clean, seemed to be well equipped, and offered time outside of class for practice. But this experience was overshadowed by the terrible vibes and how uncomfortable the owner made the place feel. He would teach for the first fifteen to twenty minutes of the two and a half hour class and then sit down to gossip, rudely and loudly, about his students from other sessions with the other staff member. When asking for assistance he would either begrudgingly give roundabout but helpful tips or be condescending and rude asking, "Well what do you think you should do?" Expecting a beginner in an intro class to know everything from his quick instruction doesn't make sense. I came home from the first class feeling shocked and upset by the negative experience (that I had previously been very excited for) and thought maybe I was struggling with being a beginner and taking criticism poorly. I stuck it out for the four classes since I paid $180 for everything, but left each session continuing to feel extremely uncomfortable, drained by his disparaging comments, and offended. I wish I had read the other 1 star reviews before booking because they were spot on and validating. This place has so much potential and it would be much better if it were more welcoming and had a teacher who is actually interested customer service and educating beginners. Learning and creating art is supposed to be fun and this was not. At least I got a few pots out of it. I would not recommend this business to anyone.

The four week introductory class turned out to be torture. Logan, the instructor would start every class with a five minute instruction followed by two hours and 25 minutes of gossip about their personal life. We heard about their love of horses and every horse they've ever loved. We heard about their pets, each and everyone of many, many pets. We heard a lot of details how they were teaching their bird to call their mother the C word. We heard about them working at Boy Scout camp and Girl Scout camp and every camper they ever met. And every ailment or accident the campers survived. They FaceTime'd their partner while in class without our consent, showing them our work and our faces. They got messages about their friend adopting a cat, and they expressed outrage that they would dare name a cat with the same name as someone they once knew and disliked. It was endless and frustrating. There was no time or opportunity to ask questions. You couldn't chat with a friend about what you were doing because Logan would get louder and talk over you about their personal life. They would talk about how broke they were and how they didn't have money to buy a Coke as if they wanted us to buy them a soda. They also would talk about how broke they were but how much money they were spending on all kinds of things. They complained about their family, yet also talked about how they brought their family on on a Sunday for an entirely private class. As I mentioned, the chatter was constant and endless. If we had a question we would have to interrupt them to get advice on the pottery. Thus we got very little instruction and help. Not one of my pots was a pot. They all turned into plates because I got no help when I needed it. I can not recommend anyone to take a class at the studio. I really felt like they should've been paying me because it was torture to survive the non-stop chatter from Logan the instructor. Frankly, is Logan a pottery instructor or just a person who wants to have a podcast and is torturing us instead?

SeedLove this place! I had never done ceramics before and the teachers took me through all the basics in the level 1 and level 2 classes. Gabi (one of the teachers) has been absolutely phenomenal with answering my questions. There are tons of different Imco clays to purchase at the studio, and they keep a variety of in-house glazes / underglazes we can use.

SEED!! What an amazing place to learn pottery!! It's so incredibly relaxing!! I learned how to use the wheel, how to sculpt, and how to paint my pottery. I'm so grateful for this studio for creating a place for me to be creative.

The problem with this place is that there are two instructors and you don't know which you're going to get when you sign up. The lady is excellent, super nice and super helpful. I had her for my first class and loved it, couldn't wait to sign up again. I believe every review above 1-2 stars got her.Second class I got the guy instructor and he was the absolute worst. Incredibly rude, condescending, and arrogant. When I tried asking questions he would repeatedly cut me off until I just blindly did what he said, which is not what you want in a learning environment. He also never learned my name. He got it wrong a couple times, I corrected him and then he apparently just gave up. It's Nick, it's not a hard name and there were only four of us in that class.He also reeks of insecurity. During the first demo he messed up really badly on his piece towards the end, pretty much ruining it. You know how most good teachers would just laugh it off or even turn it into a teaching moment, because we all know that even really experienced people make mistakes? This guy just froze for a bit and then tried to pretend like nothing happened. For a solid couple minutes he ignored it and kept on talking and rambling about nothing like he was hoping it'd go away on its own somehow. Finally he did something to reshape it and cursed at himself, but still not in a joking way more like he was genuinely really upset at himself. It was really awkward.He's not good at teaching and he creates a hostile learning environment. The other instructor is awesome but you can't choose your instructor and this guy is so bad that it's not worth the gamble

I LOVE THIS PLACE. I started back in April after booking one private lesson. I took two months of classes and decided I wanted to become a member. All the fellow members and students are respectful of space and time on the wheel. The owner is incredibly accommodating and helpful. I highly recommend this studio.

Very disappointed. The instructor provided no on hands instruction for the pottery wheel. Instead he talked for approximately 25 minutes and had each student separate and wedge their clay and form into round balls. After that we chose our pottery wheel, we turned on the wheel and he stood and watched over us. He never sat at a wheel and showed us what to do or provided an example, instead he just stood and stated what you were doing wrong. He was fond of saying, "as I told you before...." Watching you tube videos provided almost as much experience as Seed provided. I really expected him to sit at a wheel to "show" us an example, but that wasn't the instruction we received. He simply stood and when asked a question he would verbally respond. I just expected more but received less. I only returned for the rest of the classes because the classes were non refundable and the classes were expensive.We have our own wheel, so I've joined a "beginners pottery course" on You Tube/Facebook where the potter "Tim See" shows you how to throw potteryAnd also has a question and answer portion after each class. This was a learning experience, unfortunately I didn't learn much.