Pottery near Downtown Salt Lake

Pottery Classes Near Downtown Salt Lake City

The Clay Hole is a community pottery studio in Draper, about half an hour south of downtown Salt Lake City. Throwing, hand building, slab molds, glaze and firing, all on a single monthly membership.

There was a working pottery downtown for forty years and the man who ran it paid children in marbles. Membership is the only way in here, and there are no drop-in classes.

See membership The drive from Downtown Salt Lake
Handmade glazed clay marbles scattered on a worktable beside a potter shaping a tall stoneware crock, the old payment for clay tips in downtown Salt Lake
Getting here

The drive from downtown

South on I-15, most of the way. The grid gets you to the on-ramp and the freeway does the rest.

  1. South on State Street or 600 South to the I-15 on-ramp.
  2. I-15 south to Exit 291, 12300 South.
  3. West to Lone Peak Parkway, also signed 125 West, then south.
  4. Lone Peak Parkway runs into Pony Express Rd. We are at 12896, before IKEA.

About twenty miles, roughly twenty-seven minutes when I-15 is behaving and a good deal longer when it is not. If you work downtown and want pottery at five thirty, look at the studios in town first.

FrontRunner runs to Draper station, about two miles out, but the walk takes nearly half an hour because the rail corridor is in the way. It is a rideshare at the end or it is a car.

When you get here

Parking is free and shared with a few other businesses. Anything not marked reserved is yours. No garage, no validation and no hourly rate.

Full directions and map
Downtown ground

He paid the children in marbles and they told him where the clay was

Frederick Petersen was a Danish potter who arrived in Utah in 1852 as an apprentice, set up his own kiln around 1859 after the master potter died, and worked until he died in 1898. The site, near 600 South and 300 East, was excavated: a workshop with stone foundation walls and an adobe house beside it under a terra-cotta tile roof.

He made storage crocks, milk pans and roof tiles. He also made marbles for local children, and traded them for the locations of clay deposits the kids had found in the hills.

A working pottery ran in downtown Salt Lake for about forty years, and part of its supply chain was children, paid in glass.

And they paid more for it

Pioneer-made pottery sold for more than imported goods. Church leaders pushed craft self-sufficiency hard enough that missionaries were sent to find potters in Staffordshire. For a while in this city, a locally thrown pot was worth more than one that had crossed an ocean.

What is actually here

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.

29pottery wheels
650+brush on glazes
248slab molds
4kilns
  • 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.
See the Mold Room
Why half an hour is still worth it

Getting out of the city is the product, not the price

Downtown has a farmers market that is the largest community event in the state, two professional teams, a Broadway house and mountains at the end of every east-west street. Nobody living there is short of something to do.

What downtown does not have is twenty-seven minutes of nothing. The drive south is the part where the meeting you are still replaying finally stops.

You arrive with your hands free and a piece on a shelf waiting for you, and clay does not let you think about anything else. Then you drive back. The two halves of that are the same length, and both of them count.

  • 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.
  • Your own shelf, so one trip a week is a working rhythm rather than a compromise.
  • Seven days a week, so a weekend morning can replace a hopeless Tuesday.
See membership Walk through the 360 tour
What it costs

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.

LevelMonthlyClasses included
Green Level$145 a month4 classes a month
Yellow Level$170 a month5 classes a month
Purple Level$200 a month6 classes a month
Black Level$275 a month8 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 membership rules

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.

See membership How membership works
The week

When the studio is open

WhenHoursWhat it is
Monday daytime10:30 AM to 2 PMInstructed class
Monday to Thursday evenings6:30 PM to 10 PMInstructed class
Friday evening6:30 PM to 10 PMOpen studio
Saturday and Sunday mornings10 AM to 1:30 PMOpen 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.

The rest of the field

Other pottery near Downtown Salt Lake

Downtown is the best served part of the state and several of these are minutes from you. We will start there.

  • Make your own

    Salt Lake Pottery Studio

    965 E 900 S. Wheel and hand building, kids, one time experiences, multi week courses, memberships and private events. The broadest offering in the city and a fraction of our drive.

  • Make your own

    Workshop SLC

    153 W 2100 S. One time pottery nights, beginner wheel and hand building, continuing ceramics, and a membership with recurring weekly hours.

  • Make your own

    Studio 1396 at The Front

    1396 S 400 W, inside the climbing gym. Wheel and hand building, included with a Front membership or on a ten visit pass. Orientation and a waiver first.

  • Paint your own

    Color Me Mine Salt Lake

    2725 E Parleys Way. You choose a finished piece and decorate it. A different evening entirely and much the lowest commitment.

If you live downtown, start with one of those. We are for the person who wants to leave the city for an evening on purpose, or who has outgrown a smaller room and wants a bigger one.

Compare 14 Utah studios Every pottery studio in Utah
Nearby

The rest of the Salt Lake Valley

Same studio, same shelves, a different starting point. See every city in the Salt Lake Valley. Or by county, every city in Salt Lake County.

Questions

What people from Downtown Salt Lake ask

How far is The Clay Hole from downtown Salt Lake City?

About twenty miles, roughly twenty-seven minutes when I-15 is clear and considerably longer in rush hour. We are not going to call it quick.

Was there really a pottery in downtown Salt Lake?

Yes. Frederick Petersen, a Danish potter, ran a kiln near 600 South and 300 East from about 1859 until his death in 1898, making storage crocks, milk pans and terra-cotta roof tiles. The site was excavated and the workshop foundations found. He also made marbles for local children and traded them for the locations of clay deposits.

Can I get there on FrontRunner?

It stops at Draper station, about two miles out, but the walk takes nearly half an hour because the rail corridor is in the way. Plan on driving, or a short rideshare at the end.

Why drive south when there are studios downtown?

For most people you should not, and Salt Lake Pottery Studio and Workshop SLC are both good. The drive makes sense if you want a lot more room and a lot more glaze, or if getting out of the city for two hours is itself the thing you are after.

Can I take a single pottery class instead of joining?

No. Monthly membership is the only way in. Workshop SLC and Pottery Night SLC both run single evenings much closer to you.

What are the class times?

Instructed classes Monday through Thursday evenings plus Monday daytime. Friday evening and both weekend mornings are open studio. A weekend morning avoids the freeway entirely, which is worth knowing from downtown.

Starting

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 Downtown Salt Lake and join here have never touched a wheel.

See membership Read the FAQs

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.