Pottery Classes Near American Fork, Utah
The Clay Hole is a community pottery studio in Draper, about twenty five minutes north of American Fork. Wheel work, hand building, slab molds, the glaze wall and kiln time, all on one monthly membership.
There are formations in the canyon above your town that grow sideways against gravity. Glaze does that too. Membership is the only way in, and there are no drop-in classes.
The drive from American Fork
Straight up the freeway. American Fork has its own on-ramps, which is more than several of its neighbors can say, and the whole trip is one road plus four turns.
- I-15 north from exit 276 or exit 278, over the Point of the Mountain.
- Exit 289, Bangerter Highway, then west to the 200 W exit.
- Right on 13490 S over to Pony Express Rd.
- Past IKEA and Living Spaces. We are on the left.
Roughly fourteen freeway miles plus surface streets, so about twenty five minutes when the Point is moving. It is a real drive, not an errand.
American Fork has a FrontRunner station, and the train does run to Draper. The walk at the Draper end is close to half an hour because of the rail corridor, so plan on a rideshare for the last piece.
When you get here
Free and shared. Anything not marked reserved for a neighboring business is fair game. Easier than Main Street during Steel Days, which is not a high bar but it is an honest one.
The canyon above town is full of things that grew the wrong way on purpose
Timpanogos Cave was made a national monument on 14 October 1922. Three caves, Hansen, Middle and Timpanogos, joined by tunnels the WPA blasted through in the 1930s. The trail to the entrance is a mile and a half and climbs a thousand and ninety two feet, paved the whole way.
What the caves are known for is helictites. They are calcite and aragonite straws that twist and spiral sideways instead of hanging straight down, and the reason they do it is still argued over.
Anyone who has watched a glaze crawl up a foot ring or run somewhere it had no business running knows the feeling exactly. Material that is supposed to obey gravity, quietly deciding otherwise.
A festival named after whatever the town did that decade
The summer celebration started in 1865 as Timber Day, became Liberty Day, then Poultry Day, and was renamed Steel Days in 1945 when Columbia Steel was employing thousands across the valley. Same week in July, four different names for what the town was making at the time.
A big room, and everything in it is included
The studio runs to nearly 10,000 square feet. Membership covers the room, the equipment, the classes and the glaze. You buy clay by the bag and you pay for firing by the size of the piece. Nothing else is metered.
- Four instructors working the room in every instructed class, so nobody sits stuck for twenty minutes.
- 150+ underglazes alongside the glaze wall, plus dipping buckets on the higher levels.
- Bisque firing is free. Glaze firing is 5 cents a cubic inch, $4.80 minimum.
- Clay starts at $28 a 25 pound bag, and the discount grows with your level.
- Your own shelf to leave work on, which is the thing home potters never have.
American Fork is good at watching art. It has nowhere to make a pot
For its size this is a serious arts town. A symphony, a regional ballet company, an arts foundation, and a high school marching band with state championships behind it. Twenty seven parks. None of that is nothing.
Every one of those is a thing you attend. You buy the ticket, you sit down, somebody else made it, and it is good. What the city does not have is a room where you are the one with wet hands.
That is the whole difference. An evening you watched is gone by Thursday. A mug you made badly in March is in the cupboard, annoying you, for years.
- Four instructed classes a month at the lowest level, eight at the highest.
- Open studio Friday evening and both weekend mornings, on top of the classes.
- Instructors working the room in every instructed class, so nobody sits stuck.
- Your own shelf, which is the thing home potters never have.
Four levels, one monthly price
Every level gets the same studio, the same equipment and the same glaze wall. What changes is how many instructed classes are included, how much shelf you get, and how much comes off a bag of clay.
| Level | Monthly | Classes included |
|---|---|---|
| Green Level | $145 a month | 4 classes a month |
| Yellow Level | $170 a month | 5 classes a month |
| Purple Level | $200 a month | 6 classes a month |
| Black Level | $275 a month | 8 classes a month |
Open studio time is on top of the included classes, at every level. Clay discounts run from nothing on Green Level up to $6 off each bag on Black Level.
The part we would rather you read now than find out later
There are no drop-in classes and no single sessions. Membership renews on the 25th of each month and canceling has to happen before the 24th. Fired work has to be collected within two weeks of the kiln being unloaded. And the cheapest level shows you a real fraction of what a busy month here looks like.
If that list makes membership the wrong shape for you, it is better to know in the first minute than in the fourth week.
When the studio is open
| When | Hours | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Monday daytime | 10:30 AM to 2 PM | Instructed class |
| Monday to Thursday evenings | 6:30 PM to 10 PM | Instructed class |
| Friday evening | 6:30 PM to 10 PM | Open studio |
| Saturday and Sunday mornings | 10 AM to 1:30 PM | Open studio |
Doors open 15 minutes before a session starts, and the studio closes for fourteen holidays a year. The full list, with this year's dates, is on the class schedule page.
Other pottery near American Fork
American Fork itself has no studio where you throw your own work. The nearest ones are in the towns either side of it.
- Make your own
The Kreative Kiln
Next door in Pleasant Grove, and the closest real option to American Fork. Six week wheel throwing at $299, hand building, paint your own, and kiln firing for work made elsewhere. All ages.
- Make your own
White Stone Pottery
Up in Alpine. One potter teaching wheel lessons, five students to a class, four two hour sessions a month, sixteen and over. Classes were showing full with a waitlist and they do not run in December or January. Their site is plain http, so some browsers will warn you before it loads.
- Make your own
Throw Art Studio
Down in Provo. Two hour wheel experiences from $29.99 a wheel for up to two people, plus four week beginner courses that include evening studio access. Good for finding out whether you like it at all.
If a six week course in the next town over beats a membership twenty five minutes north, take the course. The Kreative Kiln is closer to you than we are and it fires outside work, which we do not.
What people from American Fork ask
How far is The Clay Hole from American Fork?
About twenty five minutes, fourteen freeway miles plus surface streets, north on I-15 over the Point of the Mountain from exit 276 or 278.
Is it worth the drive from American Fork?
Depends what you want. If you want a fixed six week course, Pleasant Grove is five minutes away and we will say so. If you want a room you can use seven days a week with your own shelf in it, that does not exist in Utah County.
Can I take a single pottery class instead of joining?
No. Monthly membership is the only way in. No drop-in classes and no single sessions, which rules us out for anyone wanting a one off evening.
Do I need my own tools or clay?
No tools. Membership covers the wheels, the hand building tables, the slab molds, the glaze wall and the classes. Clay is by the bag here, so a session never starts with a shopping list at the canyon mouth.
Do you take beginners?
Most people who join have never touched a wheel. If you have sat through a marching band learning a show from scratch you already know how the first three weeks of anything sound.
What are the class times?
Instructed classes Monday through Thursday evenings plus Monday daytime. Friday evening and both weekend mornings are open studio. Weekend mornings are the ones that survive a Saturday in the canyon.
What happens if you join this week
You pick a level, sign the waiver, and turn up to your first class. Somebody shows you where everything is, you get a shelf, and you put your hands in clay the same night. Most people who come from American Fork and join here have never touched a wheel.
- Nothing to bring. What to wear is covered on the what to wear page.
- The first day page walks through the whole first visit, in order.
- Free lessons for everything else live in Clay Hole University, whether or not you ever join.
Questions are quickest by text. The studio line is 385-241-5528. We are at 12896 S Pony Express Rd, Suite 100, Draper, UT 84020.