1
Owner
Opened The Clay Hole in March 2025. Every studio rule and procedure comes from the owner, and so does every change to one.
Who’s who at The Clay Hole
The shirt tells you who to ask.
Seven roles keep this studio running. Three of them wear a set color on the floor, so you can spot the right person from across a 10,000 square foot room.
Pink teaches. Purple helps. Baby blue runs open studio.
The order, top to bottom
Top of the ladder
Four roles keep the whole place running.
2
General Manager
Runs the team. Hiring, training, scheduling and shift coverage all live here.
So do member problems and disputes, and any piece the studio damaged.
3
Studio Manager
Keeps the building itself running, working through a standing list of daily, weekly and monthly jobs on hours that are not tied to class times.
Member questions are not part of this job, on purpose. If you spot the studio manager mid-class, an instructor is still the person to ask.
4
Creative Team
On the studio floor
Three shirts, three different jobs.
These are the people you will actually talk to. Every instructed class has four instructors on the floor: a pink shirt and a purple shirt on the wheel side, and the same pair on the hand-building side.
5
Pink shirt
Main Instructors
Paid · They lead every instructed class
Main instructors run every instructed class, one on the wheel side and one on the hand-building side. They open the studio, lead the room, show new members around on their first night and hand out shelf assignments.
Ask them about
Anything at all, including the policy, membership and billing questions nobody else on the floor answers. They are trained far more deeply on all of it.
Worth knowing
They are shared across the whole class, so a short wait for one is normal. A purple shirt can usually take a pottery question in the meantime.
6
Purple shirt
Trade Instructors
One shift a week · Traded for a Purple Level Membership
Trade instructors give us one shift a week and get a full Purple Level Membership in return. Each one backs up a main instructor and spends the shift making rounds. While they are on shift, they are there for you, not for their own pottery.
Ask them about
Any pottery question at all. That is exactly what they are there for.
Not for
Billing, accounts, level changes or shelf changes. They will send you to a pink shirt, on purpose.
7
Baby blue shirt
Open Studio Managers
Friday nights and weekend mornings · Not instructors
Open studio managers run our three open studio sessions each week: Friday from 6:30 to 10:00 PM, and Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM. They open the building, manage the room, make sure cleanup happens and lock up. Baby blue is the newest color on the floor.
Ask them about
The basics of the room during open studio.
Not for
Lessons. Open studio has no instructors on purpose, so it is always time set aside to simply work. Many of our open studio managers are gifted potters, and they will still say no to teaching. Please take the no.
Billing and account questions during open studio go to a text at 385-241-5528, or to a pink shirt during a class.
Who to ask
Match the question to the person.
A pottery question during an instructed class
Any pink or purple shirt.
Studio policy, membership levels, billing, your account or your shelf
A pink shirt during class, or a text to 385-241-5528. We usually answer Monday through Thursday.
A pottery question during open studio
Save it for your next instructed class. Open studio has no instructors, by design.
A problem, a dispute, or something too sensitive for a text
Ask for the general manager or the owner, and talk it through one on one.
Anything, when the nearest person is the studio manager
An instructor instead. Member questions are not part of that job.
Want one of these shirts
Pink and purple are both roles you can apply for.
We hire out of our own member pool whenever we can, and members get the first look when a role opens.