Apparently this has not been reviewed in about 10 years, so I'm happy to provide an update: it's…read morestill great! I took a 6 week class and truly loved it. I am not a natural at pottery so I took the class again. I had a different instructor for the first round of classes than the second and both were really talented potters and teachers, clearly masters of their craft, and clearly deeply passionate not only about ceramics but about teaching it. I have since been going to open studio for about 1.5 years and it's such a special place! The kiln techs and instructors are truly passionate and there's even a local celeb potter there regularly as a tech who is an absolute wealth of knowledge and quite truly a master. There are a wide range of skill levels from more beginner (me) to intermediate to highly advanced folks, which is a really lovely blend in studio and everyone is so incredibly kind and supportive. I adore the ceramics community here and have made life friends from it! The studio itself: they have tables if you need to sit, a slab roller and LOTS of molds and patterns for slab building, several clay options (bmix, t2, porcelain), and a variety of glazes that they make in house, as well as commercial underglazes. They provide all the tools you would need, but if you need any specialty tools I recommend bringing your own. The wheels are well maintained electric wheels (and one kick wheel!) and there are options for folks in wheelchairs as well. It's a well maintained and cared for supportive space. I couldn't be more thankful. AND the wheels overlook a beautiful pond! What more could you want? If I could hope for one more thing it would be more glaze options, but they do already offer quite a few crowd-pleasers in the more neutral family of glazes.

I started taking pottery wheel lessons here about a year ago. On Saturday mornings at open studio,…read moreI'm pretty sure there's no where else on the planet I'd rather be. The studio is a great place to spend a four hour chunk of your life -- good light, about 15 electric potter's wheels (I've never had to wait for one), a plaster wedging table, a slab roller, and most of the tools you could ever need. You can choose between three high fire clays (porcelain, B-mix, and brown); each is $16 for a 25 pound bag. With its high fire gas kilns and beautiful glazes that make even slightly wobbly bowls look artistic, it's about as close as the general public is likely to get to a professional studio. Instruction is casual and provided on an as-needed basis. The main teacher is Danny Sheu, who is terrific on the wheel and a great instructor, too. Unlike other pottery teachers I've had, he won't waste time telling you that you have 'an interesting technique' if you're doing it wrong, but he's always happy to show you how to do it right. Just catch his eye if you need help. Beginners might prefer his more structured six week classes, but if you're a quick learner, you can just show up at open studio and ask for a lesson in the basics of centering, opening, and compressing. Some of the open studio regulars are professional or near professional potters, but everyone is friendly and willing to lend a newbie tools and advice. That said, no one is there to socialize, so there's plenty of space and quiet to concentrate on your own project. I consistently come out of open studio covered in clay and beaming. Cheaper and better than therapy any day!

We had such an amazing experience! I brought a group of 12 women for a team art class, and…read moreeverything was so organized from beginning to end. She was incredibly helpful, patient, detailed, and flexible with such a large group. What I loved most was how she was able to collaborate with all 12 of us and still make the experience feel personal. Everyone felt included, supported, and able to be creative in their own way. You can tell a lot of thought and care goes into what she does. Our team had the BEST time, and I would absolutely recommend this experience for a team outing, celebration, or just a fun day together. We will definitely be back!

We had a team-building event here recently, and it was one of the most enjoyable things we have…read moredone together. Deepti made it so easy for us to jump right in and get creative. She was super encouraging and had ways of helping those of us who don't get the chance to paint very often create something we could be proud of. Even the very-beginners did art we would be happy to show to off others. Some of us enjoyed the process so much we didn't want to leave and stayed as long as we could. I would love to take one of her regular classes!

My child has been taking classes here for over a year, and we've had a great experience so far. The…read morepace and instruction are well tailored to each student's level and interests. Each class has a good balance of teaching and hands-on practice, with a clear structure and dedicated time for both. At the end of each class, the instructor provides a recap along with comments on each student's in-class performance. This personalized feedback is very helpful for parents and gives students a solid foundation, especially for beginners. Overall, we've been very happy with the experience and would definitely recommend the classes.

My 5 year old daughter did their last week of Art Exploration Summer Camp. She was initially a bit…read morehomesick but Ms Gigi made her very comfortable and kept me updated. As for the art work, I was amazed to see how beautiful everything turned out. Highly recommend it! We will be signing her for the during the year classes as well.

I started my journey back to art school when I was seventy years old, as this was my biggest regret…read morein life - I didn't go to art school. I was a successful artist in my twenties, but life took over, and my art came to a screeching halt. I raised a family, had a busy life and a few careers, retired, and found myself living in San Jose. I thought I would take an art class to fill the time. This is how I wound up at the Art School of SF Bay. The first classes I took were watercolor and portraits, which I enjoyed, though I struggled to walk through the front door. I had no confidence; I was my own worst critic; I had a fear of making bad art; and when I looked around, everyone was so talented, most of them young enough to be my grandchild. My life changed when I found myself in Andrew Kim's Inking class. His upbeat, positive attitude gave every student a can-do attitude, including me, which helped me to relax. Andrew knew everything about art, from perspective and portraits to charcoal, ink, digital, manga, and more. Andrew is a doer of all art. He can do anything. His teaching style creates an atmosphere of learning; he will teach you how to do it; he will not do it for you. He made art fun. He reminds me of my son, who is a conductor. My son can hear a flat note in a room full of top-notch musicians. Just like Andrew, with his eagle eye, he will help you improve whatever project you are working on just by looking at it. Andrew promotes and encourages his students to be a community. He created a Discourse where everyone can interact with fellow students, get advice, build friendships outside of class, meet up for sketching and socializing, just be artists, and share their ideas and dreams. Having a support system is crucial. He also makes it easy to schedule make-ups and is a great communicator. Andrew makes sure everyone's artistic needs are met because he cares about his students. I continued with Inking and also added Open Studio, where I could work on my own projects. That is when my life changed. I began sketching dog portraits, posted them on my social media, and before I knew it, I had three commissions. It was absolutely shocking! I accepted the commissions, and ever since then, I have been off and running. I owe and credit all my success to Andrew and Art School of SF Bay. This would never have happened without him at my side. When people ask me what I do, I proudly say, "I am a commissioned pet portrait artist." I'm very proud of this accomplishment, something I would never dream of happening. Don't hesitate to contact Art School of SF Bay if you are interested in art. Check out their Instagram page to see posts of student work. There is something there for everyone. All the teachers are stellar and committed. They furnish all supplies. The teachers are great, especially with the little ones; the studio is clean, organized, and conducive to learning. It's my favorite place to be. It feels like home.

Having painted abstract compositions in the past, I was excited to take the class, learn some…read moretheory and make some paintings. Class was in the form of an hour of interactive lecture, followed by an hour of painting, except for the last two (of six) classes, which were focused on creating and finishing a complete painting, with some assistance and guidance from Maria, who was both encouraging and helpful. I will definitely be doing more paintings on my own in the near future!

Loved meeting Natalia and seeing her beautiful work! Definitely worth stopping by to admire and…read moresupport local art.

I am happy to have private art classes with Natalia! She is…read morethe first person who convinced me that I can paint, her unique style for teaching gave me confidence that all people can paint, it's not dependent on talent. Natalia always has feelings about your mood and how much you are involved or not to the process. I am totally recommending Natalia as teacher, but not just, she also amazing art artist, her art, style really amazing! After 3 months I can say "I am in love with painting "

Amazing art program. Excellent art education. Many students got accepted by prestigious art…read morecolleges/universities with high scholarships. Director, Yousun Kim received Excellent Educator awards from Scholastics Art and Writing several years in a row. I sent my daughter and son to the program. Results were excellent. I highly recommend the Soho Art Studio for Portfolio for college admission, AP art, and high school/middle school/elementary school student art education.

From the owner: What distinguishes Soho Art from the rest is the growth of creativity enhancing the full potential…read moreof our students to win many awards. At Soho Art, the student's daily thoughts become strikingly creative ideas with one's own thoughts and feelings expressed as visual images. Students will naturally have a wonderful artistic experience of making all of the above happen. With 25 yrs of teaching experience, Yousun helps high school AP students to achieve 5 scores on their AP assessments. She also helps students develop their portfolios for applying to the top professional art schools. In 2017 to 2023, Yousun Kim received the U.S. nationally recognized Scholastic Art & Writing Award for Outstanding Educator.

Kyung Ahn is a FANTASTIC art teacher and definitely makes art fun for kids. I run a summer camp…read moreprogram for kids and Kyung was gracious enough to let them come to her studio for a field trip. All I can say is that every kid left that studio with a big smile on their face. I recommend any parent looking to enroll their kids into an art program to take them to Rainbow Art Studio -- you WON'T regret it! Thank you Rainbow Art and Kyung! :)

This art center has an excellent environment and a creative atmosphere. I will be going to visit…read moreRainbow art studio again .

I attended the Beginner's for adults class and loved the experience. I had no prior experience in…read moreart and was very worried at first if I could keep up but our instructor Masha did an awesome job on teaching us. Kudos to her!! More about the Beginner's course: It is the perfect course to explore art as every class is about a different topic: acrylic, water color, abstract among others. You can explore every one of them and find out what you like the most. The course is very well curated in that sense.

In response to Maria: I have no incentive nor desire to mislead readers. I am telling the truth…read moreabout my experience with your business. Respectfully, within our exchanges, you did not address my concerns, you doubled-down and responded in a defensive way, as you are doing in your response here. You responded to what you thought my concerns were, and sent the complaint directly to the teacher with no context, leading to a situation wherein my concern was not only not addressed, it was inflamed and taken out of context. It felt like being ganged up on. The difference in the public response here, however, is the apology. Offering to essentially boot us from the class is not akin to working with us towards a solution to keep us as customers. It reads as, "my way or the highway", which is not exactly a great way to deal with children and families. Notably inappropriate is also posting the status of my payment method on a globally public thread. Highly unprofessional. It shouldn't matter, since you were going to refund me anyway. I did not receive an email beforehand that the card didn't go through, either. We have been attending classes at this location for months with no issue with payment, and attended one class that I found out through this exchange was unpaid for due to a card being compromised. Is it not your job to inform people when their payment doesn't go through? Why did you deem it important to publicly shame/blast someone for their payment information? Very odd.

This art academy is a hidden gem. The teacher is down to earth and teaches hands on. She is very…read morepatient and generous with compliments. The atmosphere is very relaxed in the studio. The students include serious high school students preparing for college or art/ design schools as well as young kids who is learning to draw and find it relaxing like my son. She is teaching my son to draw, paint, model house building and to work with clays. The teacher is bilingual, Korean and English. It's really nice to see her former students to come to visit her at the studio.

my 7yo now has been going to HYA from 2-3 years and she loves going here. Her art has exponentially…read moreimproved and the teachers are great too.

I wanted to enter this place to buy plushie keychains, until I saw their AI winter art camps…read moreadvertisements. There were three different AI pictures showing a young adult smiling and displaying their art. Seeing the generated AI young adult's face and the displayed art makes me extremely disappointed. You have so many creative minds that can make a beautiful advertisement, but you chose the quick lazy unethical AI that has stolen millions of artworks created by talented and hard-working artists. Some of the stolen art could possibly be your students and alumni artwork. I am so angry and frustrated when I saw the AI advertisements. Use your human mind, creativity, skills, techniques. Make art to show your voice to the world, because AI art will never ever have their own voice.