I've taken a number of classes at Gage and am so impressed by the caliber of the instruction. The…read moreinstructors seem genuinely interested in assisting students to improve their art, whatever their past art experience may have been, if any. I studied art at the university level and have found Gage classes to be far superior. And the new building is wonderful! Gage is not just an academy, but a community. Kudos to Director Kathleen Allen for her efforts in establishing Gage in its new location in the Westlake area, the heart of Seattle.

Gage is my favorite place in seattle to learn and practice art, and hang out with other…read morearts-centric folk. The instructors are all incredible, and provide such thoughtful teaching whether you're an advanced student or have never touched a paintbrush. I've been taking classes for years in capitol hill, and I'm excited to take more at the new location in south lake union. The art instruction you get here is unmatched, and its cool to see artists who have come out of Gage have their work in galleries and other professional establishments.

NW Encaustics is an amazing little gem of a studio. It has…read morea fantastic set-up with all the tools, instruction, and house-made wax you'll need to learn this super fun medium. It's also affordable-more affordable than Pratt I believe. Also, the people who take classes there and teach are really fun. It's a laid back, relaxed, and welcoming atmosphere, which I really appreciate. Encaustic painting is easy to do, but there are some techniques that are really helpful to learn, and it's not a completely non-toxic art; the fumes need good ventilation. Also, you use blow-torches... so, having a studio to paint in is a necessity, especially for an apartment dweller like me!

I love both this studio and the community of friendly artists that instruct there. Laid back, yet…read moreprofessional; NWE is a great place to take beginner classes and beyond. Well worth the price if you are ready to dive into the wax!

Delicious coffee, friendly service and a unique atmosphere that has you reflecting the old days.read more

A fantastic school taught by some great people. Really reasonable tuition and a lot of individual…read moretime with the teachers.

I have taken two classes with Barbara and just signed up for my third. Classes are excellent - a…read moregreat blend of hands-on teaching and self-directed work. Barbara is patient, attentive, and really cares about the work she's doing. I'd highly recommend taking classes with Barbara - the studio is cozy and small, with just enough room for everyone to have a wheel or a spot to hand build. It's a great way to create things that are useful, and even to make awesome holiday gifts!

Barb is an incredible teacher. I love the mix of beginners and returners in her classes. She has…read morelessons each day for beginners, and returners can just throw for three hours if they'd like. She is also available to more experienced people for advice and suggestions. She runs a tight ship and I have so much respect for the system she has created.

I just completed the fall class at the Alliance (French 201) and am happy with the experience. I…read morehad also taken the French for Travelers course there. Before starting at the Alliance, I had some previous private French lessons with a tutor. If you have had any background in French and don't want to start at square one, you can take a placement test. Fill out the form online and then you will be called by the Alliance director who will have you come in for an assessment. The assessment (about 30-45 minutes) is a made up of a multiple choice test and a couple of short essays. Based on your results she will place you in the appropriate class. If when you start the class you find that you are not comfortable at that level, you can always change classes (which is what I did). The teachers at the Alliance are mostly native French speakers, some are native English speakers who spent a lot of time in France and are completely fluent. The two teachers I have had so far were great - very patient! My only gripe is that you can't really choose your teachers i.e. depending on who is teaching that particular course during any particular semester, you may end up with a teacher from Quebec or another Francophone region outside of France and therefore you are learning French with their accents, which are different from the accent of the Motherland and often the difference is huge. I like that the classes are not big (up to 10 or 12?). The classes are not high-pressure and it is ok if you miss a class here and there. These are adult classes in the evening after all. Almost all of the students have full time jobs. The atmosphere is pretty relaxed. The curriculum includes a mix of grammar, vocabulary, comprehension and culture. It's not like your dry high school French textbooks. Once you reach the 200+ level, the entire course is taught in French, with complicated grammar rules explained in English if required. It's a great way to immerse yourself in the language, if only for a few hours a week. The Alliance is located at the Good Shepherd Center (built in 1906) in Wallingford, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The classrooms are nothing fancy but it is cosy in an old-school kind of way. I plan to continue with the next level course at the Alliance. There is ample free parking outside the school. There is a library where you can borrow French books, DVDs, CDs.

I have visited in person the local Alliance Francaise in Seattle several times over the years. The…read morestaff is pleasant enough, especially the French director. I did find that the courses would be too easy for me. There seemed to be several volunteers possibilities as well. * * * * * Does anyone in school learn --not even actually speak--a foreign language any more? There are insanely ugly languages--Cantonese with its braying, cacophony, American English with its outlandish diphthongs and tendency to be grunted or shouted (compare Jamie Foxx to Ralph Fiennes), Spanish. And then there is French (Parisian, Swiss, or Belgian, but not Quebecois). ...Certainly not on a par with the Alliance Francaise in Boston or San Francisco (or New York, which I have not visited but assume is the largest in the U.S.), the Alliance Francaise de Seattle is a cozy outpost located in Wallingford. It offers classes in conversational French at various levels as well as a program of social/cultural activities for mostly beginning learners. Particularly good for those who want to brush up on the French they took in high school or college, as well as for those planning a trip to a Francophone country. A small staff headed by the directrice Misa Bourdonneau is gracious and welcoming ensures that the classes are small and personalized. Whatever the global reach of the U,S. is in the decades to come (as well as the concomitant dominance of the English language), the French language will always maintain its peerless reputation as the the language of culture in the traditional sense of the word (America obviously dominates pop or mass culture). It is important to live in a multi-lateral world, politically speaking, and to have a counterweight, culturally, to the United States. **** Why study French? Once you fall in love with this language, it lasts a lifetime. It is spoken by an estimated 200 million people around the world and one of the six official languages of the U.N. and one of the two working languages of the Security Council ('English being the other). Guyana (once French Guyana) in South America is actually part of the European Union, with representation in the French National Assembly (it is actually a part of France in the same way that Hawaii or Puerto Rico are part of the U.S.). Language and culture are inseparable, and I am tempted to believe that if Americans had less distrust for nuance, less certainty that we are "sui generis" as a nation, we would have less of a "bull in a china shop" approach to world affairs. It should come as no surprise that the French over a century have been attempting to restore Angor Wat and other ancient Buddhist temples in Cambodia to their original splendor. Compare to the early days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq when the soldiers ostensibly guarding the National Archaeological Museum in Baghdad did NOTHING to prevent the shocking looting and pillaging taking place right under their very eyes. The respect the French have for their language is in sharp contrast to the general sloppiness with which Americans employ their own (how many Americans could profess a love of the English language?). **** Maybe if the U.S. (George W. Bush) had listened to France, which, with Germany, refused--on principled grounds--to "go along" with the invasion of Iraq, we wouldn't be in the mess we are in today. Former prime minister Dominque de Villepin's speech to the United Nations Assembly before the U.S. invaded Iraq was extraordinarily eloquent ("Yes, I come from an OLD Europe, one that has known great suffering...We believe war is an admission of defeat and ought to be used as the last resort" brought tears to my eyes. (This was also the occasion, as I recall, of Colin Powell's infamous "Saddam has uranium enrichment..."). http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice&from=fulltext&full=Dominique+de+Villepin+&num_notice=2&total_notices=158 On the other hand, many, if not most Americans truly believe that freedom actually began in the year 1776. However, the American Revolution was followed by another equally important revolution 13 years later. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/opinion/28furstenberg.html?em&ex=1193716800&en=6fe9bb653edfa0b5&ei=5087%0A French chateaus (Chenonceau, Chambord, et. al.), museums, cuisine, art, and cathedrals are also magnificent repositories of its rich history and culture. And yes, many French have a rather distorted, knee-jerk anti-Americanism combined with a doltish love of the worst aspects of American culture (hip-hop, Sylvester Stallone, etc.). Republican Party strategists interpreted the victory of Nicholas Sarkozy over Segolene Royal, the socialist candidate, to the presidency of France as a blueprint for them to win in 2008. Sarkozy was the successor of a very unpopular president (Chirac) from his own party, in the way that GWB has become an albatross for the Republicans.

Don't waste your money here!! This is not an organization or school that cares about their…read morestudents; only the bottom line. Response to Lily from PCNW: Response to owner: As mentioned in my Google Review, if you are going to respond to a review, be truthful. I never asked for a refund as indicated in our written correspondence. Secondly, any non-profit that claims to support the community, yet treats its benefactors/students unfairly and without empathy should re-evaluate their values.

I would like to share my AWFUL experience with The Photographic Center Northwest. At the beginning…read moreof this quarter, I paid full tuition (Photography black and white: 700 $ ) I took my first class, and everything seemed to be ok before the teacher gave us the "BIG SURPRISE". Every student has to pay extra money for the lab; around 200 $. Even you've already paid 700$, BE READY TO PAY 200 DOLLARS MORE! The day after, I received more bad news when someone from SCCC sent me a email telling me that one of my classes was overlapping with this class. I went back to the Photography Center Northwest trying to speak with someone and figure out how to solve my problem. Because I really needed to take my other class for my degree. When I arrived there, the secretary told me that she couldn't do anything for me. She gave me the email of the coordinator and suggested me to email her to find a solution. (This happened the next day of the first day of class) I was sending her emails every day, but she only answered me at the end of the week. My nightmare with this school started at this point. I emailed asking her if I could change my class on Tuesdays to Mondays; I saw on the website that this class wasn't full on Mondays; but how lucky I was when suddenly she replied back to me saying the class was full. However, they couldn't transfer me, even if I already paid the full course. I asked her if I could go to Monday class, and asked if someone wanted to change their class with me, but she said it wasn't a good idea. I was very stupid because I didn't go there, and what I found later was that the class had a waiting list. (So people who didn't even pay was before me) Guess why? Because they keep the 50% of your tuition even if you cancel the next day. I can not understand this because by law students have the right to cancel within 30 days (at least ,that was what I read in Washington website) In addition, the darkroom has more than 15 enlargers, but the maximum of students is 10. I can not understand why they have so much enlargers, if the maximum number of students is 10. I went there the next week, trying to cancel my class; there wasn't anything I could do, but the girl behind the desk told me that maybe there was a solution: transfering my money to the next quarter, so I wont loose 350 dollars and I ll be able to go to class. This day was the last day to refund my money, if not, they would keep the full tuition,700 dollars for just one class! unbelievable! I asked her to speak with the coordinator and let me know if they could do it. I though it was a very good solution. I received the last answer for this school telling me how sorry they are, even though I have been waiting almost 1 month trying to solve the situation. But they didnt do anything for me. It seems the dont care about their students, the only care about your money! I won't recommend this school ever! They charged my 350 dollar for just one class! Watch your backs with them!

We tried this art studio last spring during a camp and loved it! My boys then took weekly lessons…read morefrom Valerie and a summer camp when summer came. Valerie is very excited about working with the kids and it shows. She gets great joy from the children's explorations in art and in sharing her love of art history. My kids love going there, have learned quite a lot of art history while making art projects that connect with the theme of the class. All sorts of art media are explored including painting, drawing, paper making, pottery wheel, hand formed clay projects and glazing, even Jackson Pollack style splatter painting on a large tarp outdoors! Once a guest artist came in and talked about her paintings, and I hear that field trips to art museums are in the planning stages. Give it a try, your children will develop a love of art and art history.

I like my time in ALPS. It started to feel like a place to hangout and be at peace. The community…read moreis really nice and it's very easy to make friends. The teachers have interesting backgrounds so they provide insight in many topics from different areas of knowledge. I highly recommend ALPS

Excellent teachers, a friendly environment, great learning resources, and my determination were the…read moreperfect combination for significant improvement in my English skills. I highly recommend ALPS to anyone looking to learn or further enhance their English proficiency. The small class size is the best thing about this school!