Chiswick Art School

I very much enjoyed the raku workshop organised by Roz. It was fun, inspiring, and I really liked spending that day with a small group of friendly, passionate potters. We’re all planning to come back soon for another session!

I just completed the beginners throwing course and have signed up for intermediate. The course is great with lots of time to learn how to throw pottery, trim and glaze several items throughout the course. The instructors are very helpful (all artists with their own works/exhibits) and the environment is relaxed and friendly. Highly recommended!!

I would highly recommend the one day Raku course with Roz Wallis. It was so much fun and very informative. A brilliant teacher, who created a lovely atmosphere to learn in. Definitely to be repeated and an unforgettable day.

Chiswick art school is full of very talented teachers. Last week we were taught by Simon. Simon makes you feel like he is on your art journey with you. This makes students like me feel so relaxed. His instructions were clear and I loved his style of teaching. I cannot wait for my class this week because I feel so euphoric after each lesson. Thank you Chiswick art school!

Did a raku class with Roz Wallis which was amazing. Learnt loads and Roz is such a great and enthusiastic teacher. Couldn’t recommend more highly

For a beginner, such as myself, Chiswick Art offers the perfect classes in which to dip your paintbrush or to experiment with other mediums. It is challenging but also amazingly relaxing and takes you away from the stresses and strains of life for a brief but precious moment.

I attended a 1 day raku course with Roz Wallis, a very creative, capable and fun teacher. I was starting from zero knowledge and learned a huge amount with a friendly group of mixed experience. Would 100% recommend as a taster or as a place to try out ideas with Raku firing.

I had a great (but freezing!!!) day on the raku session with Roz. Delighted with my results, and amazed by the range of fantastic pieces created by the other potters. Roz was incredibly calm, knowledgeable and friendly. Highly recommend it!!!

I did the 12 week beginners ceramics and pottery course run by Roz Wallis and taught by Luke Hamel Cooke at the Chiswick Art Studio.I can absolutely recommend the school and course. Luke is a great teacher and really helped to foster a positive, judgement free environment in which we were quickly introduced to the fundamentals of throwing, turning and glazing and then given the time and space to experiment and take from the course what we wanted. There is a real focus on learning from the (many) setbacks and failures and I'm really pleased looking at my progress throughout the 12 weeks.If you are looking for or get the most out of a rigid curriculum and lots of demonstrations the course may not be for you. We would be introduced to a topic or method, talked through and demonstrated by Luke once or twice and then given the time to try (and fail!) at it ourselves on our wheel, with plenty of space for individual help from Luke. You get the most out of it by being curious and asking questions and using the experience of the teacher rather than expecting to getting all of that front-loaded. This really worked for me and my learning style.We covered the basics of throwing, turning and glazing. We threw and finished small stonewear cylinders, pulling up to form taller cylinders, bowls and vases. We were instructed on how to wedge clay and importantly to properly clean our throwing environment. Roz has a variety of gorgeous glazes in different finishes and colours and instructed us as to best glaze and finish our pieces.If you want to go 'off-script' and try more advanced techniques, adding handles to your cylinders to make mugs, making lids, spouts, trying out 'chattering' when turning or any other technique that you're interested you get a lot of encouragment and individual help to learn and push yourself forward - if you ask.Next week is our final session and we will finish with a Raku firing and a celebration of our progress throughout the course.Something I didn't expect going into the course was the real sense of community Roz fosters around her studio. As a larger cohort of beginners we were invited into a Whatsapp group where information is shared and where Roz announces her Instagram live kiln openings. These are exciting opportunites to see both your own finished pieces and those of the other people doing beginner and intermediate courses and to get new ideas for what to do in the next weeks.There are multiple beginners courses running concurrently at different times during the week, so when we had a clash one week with our normal session we were able to catch up on a different night.Given the length of each session (7pm - ~9.15/9.30pm) the overall cost of the course is really reasonable. There are additional small charges for bisque firing, glazing and final firing based on the pre-bisque firing weight of your piece, but the cost is reasonable and works out to a few £ per piece depending on size.Roz runs additional intensive courses and has open studio days on the first Sunday of the month with an instructor for you to spend more time throwing and asking questions. There is an additional cost for these, but I really appreciated having the option to spend more time outside the bounds of the 12 week course.

From the time I started pottery classes with the Chiswick pots studio, I am obsessed with pottery and I am doing regular classes and wheel time in the studio. Roz, Ghaz and Luke are amazing and supporting teachers with lots of experience and they are teaching classes with pace. There is always something new to learn even if you are repeating the classes and a lot of exciting exhibitions so you can learn from others too!I couldn’t recommend more the Chiswick pots studio / Chiswick art school for their pottery classes!