The Pottery at Follow Your Art is a full service pottery studio in Melrose, MA, where you can learn hand-building, wheel-throwing, and glazing while deepening your pottery practice in a welcoming and inclusive community of creatives. 

Taking a pottery class at FYACS also supports a mission-driven non-profit committed to offering creative endeavors for all, with opportunities for learning, growth, discovery, and outreach through visual arts, craft, writing, and performance.

At FYACS, we are committed to inclusivity and diversity in the arts and strive to create an accessible and welcoming environment for people of all identities, abilities, cultural backgrounds, and economic situations.

Through our Arts for All program, FYACS offers a robust financial aid program, offering as many as four scholarships per individual per year for any class or program hosted by FYACS. We also offer adaptive services for people with various needs, whether physical, cognitive, or linguistic. You can learn more about our Adaptive Services here.  

Class fees cover instruction time, materials (clay and glazes) and firing costs. Pottery classes are generally more expensive than other art classes due to the costs of specialized equipment (ex. tools, wheels, kilns, regular upkeep), background technical support (ex. clay reclaim, glazing for kid classes, firing kilns), and overhead (ex. space, electrical costs).

Yes! Tuition Assistance is available on all clay programs through Arts for All.

While EBT/WIC card-holders are automatically eligible for at least a 50% discount off of classes and workshops, our tuition assistance funds are open to diverse levels of need. At FYACS, we try our best to make sure our programs are accessible to all. Awards have ranged from 10%-80% off. 

Learn more and complete a simple application for tuition assistance here. We review applications on a rolling basis and have a limited amount of funds each session. 

Yes! Adaptive Services (such as curricular, learning, language, physical, and/or space modifications) are potentially available on all clay programs through Arts for All. Learn more and complete a simple form to tell us about your needs here.

Our Ceramics Studio on the lower level of the Big Yellow House is perfect for those looking for a small class clay experience! The studio has ten pottery wheels, a hand-building room with a large table and a full size slab roller, and a dedicated glazing area. Individual shelves are provided for adults to store tools, clay, and works in process. We fire pieces to mid-fire stoneware temperatures in electric kilns.

We recommend bringing an apron, a hand-towel, and your pottery tools to class. 

The Pottery at FYACS does not provide tools for adult classes, but they are available to purchase. We recommend purchasing a basic Kemper toolkit comprised of a small sponge, pin tool, wire tool, wooden knife, metal rib, loop tool, and wooden rib.

The Pottery at FYACS provides clay, glazes, and a selection of underglazes for decorative purposes. All clay must be purchased through FYACS. 

We use a mid fire brown stoneware clay and our own studio-made glazes. Outside clays and glazes are not permitted. 

Students may purchase their own underglazes and underglaze transfer sheets with pre-approval. Please get pre-approval for the specific products you want to purchase by emailing a link to ceramics@fyamelrose.org. 

You can sign up for a general FYACS membership here. 

Membership at FYACS gives members 10% off class tuition! Membership also offer bi-weekly open studio access for drawing, painting, fiber art, and mixed media in the Main Studio. 

Yes! We offer private events for all ages. 

Wheel-throwing Private Workshops: For $400, enjoy a 2-hour pottery wheel experience for up to 5 people, where you’ll create up to 2 pieces each, with all trimming, firing, and glazing handled by our expert staff, tailored to your group’s experience level. Complete a wheel-throwing private event interest form here. 

Hand-building Private Workshops: For $390, enjoy a 2-hour hands-on hand-building pottery experience for up to 6 people ($65 for each additional person, with a maximum of 12). Each person will create 1 unique piece. All firing and glazing handled by our staff. Projects can be tailored to your group’s skill level and interest.  Complete a hand-building private event interest form here. 

Learn more about all of our private event offerings here. 

Please visit the FYACS policies page for a full list of our attendance and cancellation policies.

Adult Pottery Classes: 

Please inform your teacher or the Studio Manager at ceramics@fyamelrose.org if you anticipate an absence. Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee make-up classes. We offer adult students that need to miss a class priority signup for additional worktime for up to 1 absence (except by special arrangement). Although a pottery wheel isn’t guaranteed on a night other than your registered class, the hand-building and glazing areas are available.

Adolescent /Teen and Youth Classes:

Yes! All persons interested in teaching pottery workshops or classes are invited to reach out to ceramics@fyamelrose.org to express interest. You can also check out our employment page for more. 

For any additional questions about our Pottery program at FYACS, contact our Studio Manager at ceramics@fyamelrose.org.