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    Doug Snider Ceramics

    4.7 (12 reviews)

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    Love Spanish Village and especially Doug Snider's ceramics. Such a great spot to check out local artists. Doug's Studio is one one my favorite places to visit when I'm in Balboa Park. The studio opens into an expansive outside space that is also full of awesome, one of a kind sculptures and ceramics like the studio. Have taken classes and also bought some items as gifts, like planters and Doug Bugs. Loves me some local art! No where in San Diego's will you find anything like Spanish Village or Doug's studio. Worth the visit!

    A M.

    On Tuesday, April 25, 2017, I visited studio #15 in the SVAC, owned by DOUG SNIDER. I was greeted by a woman who identified herself as Violet.  As I walked through the studio viewing the colorful artwork that adorned the walls, I noticed a small cup that I was interested in purchasing. The cup did not have much color, so I asked Violet if there were any cups that had a lot of color to them, similar to the paintings on the wall.  Violet offered to paint the cup with bright colors to resemble the nice artwork on the walls.  I agreed to have her paint the cup. After selecting a cup that cost $20, Violet asked if I would prepay for it.  As I prepared to hand her the $20 in cash, she then asked, "Would it be OK if I charged you an extra $5 for the painting?" I agreed, but wondered why she did not mention the additional charge when she offered to paint the cup.  Once paying the $25, Violet asked me to follow her to the patio area, where she showed me a ceramic piece that she had recently painted.  The piece was very nice and filled with color.  She stated that she would make my cup resemble that piece.  Given that I was visiting from northern California, I left the studio to explore Balboa Park while she painted my cup, but did not realize the store closed at 4 pm. When I returned to studio at approximately 4:50 pm, I noticed that it was closed and a padlock hung from the front door.  I began to look around the plaza and observed that all of the studios appeared to be closed, except for the Office at studio #18.  Given that there was a phone number posted in studio #15's window, I called the cell phone number and reached Doug Snider, the business owner.  I explained to him that Violet had painted a cup for me, I'd paid her and the studio was closed when I returned.  Doug instructed me to walk down the plaza toward the main entrance to see if another shop owner was there to assist me. While walking and talking to Doug on my cell phone, I encountered a woman coming out of the Office, I began to explain to her what happened, and Doug, exclaimed, "Don't talk to the office lady!" Not knowing why he gave this unusual command, I told the woman that I had the matter handled, and I continued to walk in the direction that Doug was instructing me.  When I told him that I could not find anyone, he then curtly stated, "Well, I don't know what to tell you. I don't have time to deal with these types of issues and I will open at 11 tomorrow." With even more venom and disregard, he spurted, "It's not my problem."  I was very taken aback by this so-called business owner's uncaring, unprofessional response.  I explained to him again that I'd already paid for the product and that my merchandise was locked in the studio and my flight was leaving before 11 am.  Doug instructed me to contact him in a few hours, around 6:30 pm, and he would meet me at the studio to give me the cup. I called Doug, and he stated that he was at the studio.  When I arrived to pick up the cup, I was very displeased with the outcome of the painting.  It looked as if an infant had painted it. I could not believe that the cup looked so poorly, especially since Violet offered to paint it and make it resemble the other beautiful paintings.  I expressed my unhappiness, and Doug ignored my concerns, by quickly wrapping up the cup, and nearly pushing me out of the studio.  I left feeling very disrespected, dissatisfied and unheard.  When I arrived at my car and looked at the cup, I became even more upset.  I called Doug again and asked how I could get the paint off of the cup because it was in no way what I expected. Doug, in the most uncaring, unprofessional manner, retorted, "I don't know why you had it painted." I explained to him that I wanted the cup to have vivid colors like the paintings on the wall and Violet offered to paint the cup. I did not ask her to paint it.  I trusted the artist and since she offered to paint it, I trusted that she knew what she was doing. He arrogantly asserted, "I would never have painted it."  I then stated, "Well, if you'd been there, you would have given me your artistic advice and I would not have had it painted." He then stated, in the most vulgar manner, "If I'd been there, I would have never fucking talked to you.  I don't have time to talk to fucking people that only buy $20 pieces. I have a $20,000 project in San Francisco and I don't fucking care about shit that doesn't make me money. I live on the beach and I have bills to pay, so a fucking $20 item means nothing to me. I don't want to fucking talk to people because they always talk to me and hold me up for fucking 2 hours, which takes away from my money." When Doug finally ended what had to be a drug-induced rant, I hung on the line in utter disbelief. Words cannot express how berated and degraded I felt. I felt so disrespected that I took the cup, that I'd paid for, and hung it on the door of his studio. I refused to keep anything that came from him or his shop.

    Tidelands Park Coronado
    Elizabeth N.

    So one day as my daughter rode the little train with her dad in Balboa Park I strolled over to the Spanish Village Art Center and stumbled into Doug Snider's studio (studio15) and I was blown away. Every art piece had me intrigued and I wondered who the artist was. What an oasis. I have found he also makes incredibly whimsical public art. So far I have gotten a carved and glazed cup that I love for my morning coffee but what I have my eye on are the large wall puzzle art works. There is one in particular that I think would be a great focal point on my patio wall not to mention a great conversation piece!

    Laguna Beach Sawdust Festival
    Beth P.

    I have been to Balboa Park in San Diego many times throughout my life with my family. Its a great way to begin or end the day after going to the zoo. One of my favorite studios is studio #15. The artist, Doug Snider is very friendly and willing to share the history and background of many of his art pieces. There are beautifully, colorful, sculpted pieces throughout his entire studio. I have several long beads hanging from my outdoor trees and several Doug Bugs throughout the house. They are a great way to add color to your yard and home. Doug has shared with me that he paints and builds large life size pieces throughout California and Hawaii. If your in Balboa Park you can take a look at some of these models in his studio. He had mentioned that he built a large wave at a bus stop that one can sit in while waiting for the bus to come. When my husband and I visited the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach one summer we saw this on the side of the road and decided to stop and take a picture. I have attached the photo to this post and I would encourage anyone that visits Laguna Beach to stop and take a look at the beautiful piece. If your in the San Diego area take some time to go and visit Doug at studio #15, he is awesome!

    One of the artist's unique puzzle works; comprised of individually sculpted, painted pieces.

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    Ask the Community - Doug Snider Ceramics

    Review Highlights - Doug Snider Ceramics

    Spanish Village is one of my favorite places in San Diego, and Doug Snider Ceramics is my favorite studio.

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    Pinch Pottery - Student work

    Pinch Pottery

    4.9(55 reviews)
    1.4 miEast Village

    My boyfriend and I wanted to do pottery together for Valentine's Day, and I'm so glad we booked…read morewith Pinch Pottery! There were a few other couples in our session, but it still felt intimate and personal. For $150, we were able to make three creations of anything we wanted during the 1 hour and 30 minute class. We had so much fun the entire time. The studio itself is super cute and clean, which made the experience even better. Pinch is such a perfect way to introduce yourself, your partner, or your friends to pottery. If you're new, they teach you the basics and guide you through everything if you need help. They also have a ton of different glaze colors to choose from, which I loved. Definitely will be coming back again!

    Wow! This place is GREAT! We had an appointment for a private party/class for 8-9 ladies. The…read morelocation is great. There is an ABM Parking lot right across the street from the East Curb line, $10 for 12hrs of parking, on a Saturday Night that is great for downtown. The staff here was Wyathe and Shelby. They were very good with teaching our group the ways to produce beautiful pottery. The class is $90/person and that includes the instructional 45mins class plus 1 pottery item. If you want to add more items, it's $10/additional item. With the time I had left I opted to do 1 additional item. This allowed me to form and create another small bowl to complete a set of 2. I plan to use them for individual rice and meat dishes at work lunch. Wonderful party, we were allowed to bring light Hor d'oevres and juices and water for the group. Nice time and I highly recommend.

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    Pinch Pottery - Workshop

    Workshop

    Pinch Pottery - Display of the potteries we can make.

    Display of the potteries we can make.

    Pinch Pottery - Throwing off the hump

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    Throwing off the hump

    Cone 6 Ceramics - Clay bowls

    Cone 6 Ceramics

    4.8(137 reviews)
    2.3 miBarrio Logan

    Overview: loved this beginner class, great instructions and demo, beautiful finished product…read more ---- I saw their place on instagram and they had a special price for their anniversary, their 90-min wheel class was for $50 instead of their usual $80. I've thrown on a wheel in the past but this was a great opportunity to refresh those days! Parking was a little difficult, there is a paid parking lot, but luckily I was able to find street parking. Very clear demo and explanations, with a small class size (I think there was 8 of us). Our instructor Cristina does the demo first and then we try it and she is there to help us if needed. Once you finish your projects you can engrave designs into your pieces so I drew a little cat face on the bottom of the bowl. Unfortunately bc it was on the bottom of the bowl where the glaze pools, it was basically hidden by the glaze :( I wish I had known beforehand, then I would've chosen a better placement for the face. If you tilt it in the right lighting you can see the cat, but it's a beautiful bowl regardless! I like that they take care of everything else after you make the pieces, they trim, glaze, and fire it for you and you just have to be patient and wait for that email to come through that your piece is ready for pick up (4-6 weeks). From the class (3/7) to getting the bowl in my hands (4/10) took a month and a few days, due to the many pieces they have to fire. They have specific days and times for piece pick-up which they list on their email. ---- Overall: a great time for beginners or people with past experience, I'm happy with my piece and it reignited a dormant passion!

    My fiancée and I spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon making clay bowls. Fantastic class for…read morebeginners! Cristina and her mother were so lovely.

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    Cone 6 Ceramics - Inside

    Inside

    Cone 6 Ceramics
    Cone 6 Ceramics - Cute place

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    Cute place

    Josh Herman Ceramics

    Josh Herman Ceramics

    3.0(2 reviews)
    2.6 miBarrio Logan
    $$$$

    I enjoyed learning how to throw at this studio however I came to realize that Josh Herman is not…read morereally a clay educator and does not treat his staff like human beings. He is egotistical and is not able to integrate into the San Diego ceramics community. In addition the membership to the studio is very limited, yet the price is on par with other studios that offer 24 hr access. I would recommend that anyone interested in learning clay arts stay away from this studio. Josh is banking on other studios being too impacted so that his studio is attractive. Beware!!

    As an exchange student in Japan many years ago, I eschewed intensive language study so that I could…read morefocus on appreciating the nation's food and ceramics. Many happy days were spent on side trips to little villages that specialized in different traditional styles of ceramics. Years later, I was able to take a ceramics class at a prestigious arts college. Despite the sheer joy that came to me when working with clay, I was a resounding flop as a ceramics artist. Most of my pieces broke in the kiln, probably the result of hara-kiri, or honorable suicide. So it was with great delight that I recently met Josh Herman, a professional San Diego- based ceramic sculptor whose work has been finding its way into magazines, boutiques and museum gift stores. In his Little Italy studio, Herman transforms unassuming hunks of clay into stunning sculptures and vessels that are popular with both serious collectors and and the Hollywood set. Herman, a New York City native who learned his craft in Southern California, identifies with the Mid-Century Modern aesthetic, but his work channels strong Asian influences. His unique organic sculptural forms are coated in evocative colors and textures with a signature lava-like glaze he calls "volcanic." The result is a distinctive body of work that is impressive in its breadth and elegance. Herman's work is sold at galleries and Neiman Marcus gift galleries all over the California and beyond. Since the studio is not open for retail operations, refer to the website http://joshherman.com/ for exhibit and contact information.

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    Josh Herman Ceramics
    Josh Herman Ceramics
    Josh Herman Ceramics

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    Doug Snider Ceramics - artsandcrafts - Updated May 2026

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