4Cats Arts Studio (Ottawa - The Glebe) - Ottawa, Ontario

Meg C.

I went to my glazing on Saturday like normal, I had it booked for 2:30 to 3:30pm and paid just over $6. I finished my piece at 3:06pm (I have a picture with the timestamp!) had to wait a while for an available staff member to get my previous piece from weeks ago, and left before 3:20.
So, imagine my surprise when today I receive an email from 4cats saying I am being charged for an extra 30 minutes of glazing time as if I stayed until 4pm. Only $3.39 but that’s $3.39 for a service that I did not receive. The audacity is crazy. To charge members for 30 minutes when they weren’t even at the studio? I’m cancelling my membership. After the recent studio and staff changes, I don’t feel it’s worth it. I used to walk in and the staff would say hi and ask me how I am, now the new staff are gruff and just ask what you’re there for. The classes are overbooked with children all over the studio, no longer secluded to the back area. I miss the old studio already 🙁

Hoping I get my refund and they can use this feedback to improve the experience.

Kelly

Quaint little studio spot right in the heart of the Glebe. It’s been extremely busy both times we’ve attended to make the Friendship Mugs. Nice for self-guided workshops, and the kids’ workshops look like a lot of fun. Because it is such a small space, it can feel a little cramped and chaotic at times. Otherwise, it’s a fun night out with friends or family!

Gabrielle T.

I've now completed one clay wheel workshop and two 5-week-clay wheel courses and I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here.

For the clay wheel courses, it's definitely more hands-off from the instructors and they give you the freedom to explore and learn by doing. If you need advice or help, they're around to give you help, but they don't hover which is something I personally appreciate. This style of classes might not be everyone's preferred format but I have enjoyed the opportunity to just try different things, and getting a feel for the clay since it takes a while to build these skills.

Brenna has been fantastic at being flexible and making adjustments with classes for unexpected absences. The rest of the team that I've had the pleasure to meet have also been lovely.

You get all the tools, materials and workspace you need to do what is typically a very expensive hobby to do at home so I've really enjoyed coming to 4 Cats to get to keep honing my skills!

Maria F. O.

We’ve had a very disappointing experience with 4Cats Art Studio in The Glebe. We purchased a yearly membership for our daughter with the intention of enrolling her in structured lessons such as drawing, painting, and clay work—something she truly enjoys and thrives on due to the routine and consistency.

Unfortunately, partway through the membership, the studio abruptly stopped offering regular classes and shifted exclusively to workshops. While this may suit some, workshops do not provide the structure our daughter needs. We gave them a fair try, but they simply did not work for her.

We attempted to resolve the issue with the staff at the Glebe location, but were told they were unable to offer any alternatives unless approved by headquarters in Toronto. Since then, we’ve made several attempts to contact the Toronto office via email (as no phone number is available), but have received no response—just silence.

We have been patient and have tried every reasonable avenue to communicate and find a solution. Sadly, our membership is not even halfway through, and it feels like we’re simply losing our money. What’s most frustrating is the complete lack of accountability and communication.

We expected more from a business that positions itself as a space for creative growth and community. It’s disappointing to see such poor customer service and disregard for families who have invested in good faith.

Anna M.

Highly recommend for solo exploration but also for bonding time with loved ones.

From the moment I stumbled upon this location Kris delivered above and beyond customer service. Kris is warm, welcoming and an incredibly passionate artist.

I shared my first pottery encounter with my sister and my mother here today. It was a great family experience. I booked 2 hours so we could take our time.

I hope my mug does well in the oven. I imagine I will be back for more art projects.

Tovah

I’m quite disappointed with my experience here. It was sooo expensive because they charge you by time instead of supplies. I never write bad reviews for places but I just had for this studio. It cost 115$ to make 2 cat vases, and it was absolutely absolutely not worth that at all. There are some issues specific to this location, and others that are probably similar across all 4Cats studios:

- The major problem is how expensive it is. The suggested time slot is far too little time, even for someone like me who has experience hand building. It cost 115$ to make 2 vases which turned out terrible.
- They only had the primary colours for paint, and some pre-mixed pink and green. I was expecting a variety of colours like most clay studios have.
- The paint was hard to deal with. It had clumps that wouldn’t come out no matter how much I mixed it, and they were fired into the clay (eg the yellow clumps in the photo). Also, some paints were thick while others were super watery.
- The clay they gave us wasn’t as nice as the clay is the videos for our vases. We got the plain white instead of the speckled clay.
- They didn’t have small paint brushes, even though our craft called for thin brushed for detailed painting. The smallest they have was about 4 mm or so (like 10x too big). I ended up dipping my own pencil in black paint over and over again to paint the details.
- When my craft was being fired, blue paint from another persons project got baked onto the white part of the vase.
- The coating was matte on the outside instead of shiny (which I can’t remember if the craft was supposed to have a matte finish or not). But, the inside coating was shiny, and very sloppily done. On both the vases, the inside costing dripped down the outside in two locations each.
- This studio is small, so it’s very cramped if it’s busy.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend if you want to make a nice clay piece. Only if you’re super fast and don’t care about the turn out. The process of making the vases was fun except for how rushed we were because of our time slot.

Brian E. D. H. T.

Really nice looking place but that's to be expected from an art studio. They have interesting classes for all ages. They have fun creative classes that anyone can take. The staff is incredibly knowledgeable amicable and very jovial. Come see some of the stuff you can do here and maybe sign up for a class!

Morgan C.

My kids love this place and it’s been great so we bought the membership. However I had a question about hosting one of their birthdays there and have had a really hard time reaching anyone at the email and phone number listed. Just wish communication was a bit better.