Pottery Classes Near Holladay, Utah
The Clay Hole is a community pottery studio in Draper, about twenty minutes south of Holladay Village. Throwing, hand building, slab molds, glazing and firing, all under one monthly membership.
Holladay already turns out for handmade things. There is an arts council, a plein air event and a festival on the plaza. Membership is the only way in here, with no drop-in classes.
The drive from Holladay
South and down. You drop off the bench, pick up the belt route and then the freeway, and the mountain stays in your mirror the whole way.
- West to I-215, then south to I-15.
- South on I-15 to Exit 289, Bangerter Highway.
- West on Bangerter to the 200 W exit, then right on 13490 S to Pony Express Rd.
- Past IKEA and Living Spaces. We are on the left.
About thirteen miles, eighteen to twenty minutes. Shorter than the queue up either Cottonwood canyon on a Saturday in January, which is a comparison Holladay people can make honestly.
Nothing direct. Holladay is a driving city and this is a driving trip.
When you arrive
Parking is free and shared with a few other businesses. Anything not marked reserved is yours. No plaza, no valet and no walking from three streets over.
Two or three men dug into a creek bank in 1847 and never left
Pioneers including John Holladay found the spring fed Spring Creek on 29 July 1847 and started the first village away from Salt Lake City. Two or three of them wintered over in dugouts cut into the bank. Holladay claims the oldest continuously inhabited ground in Utah on the strength of it, since Salt Lake City was abandoned for a time in 1857.
The crossroads where that settlement began is Holladay Boulevard and Murray-Holladay Road, and it is still the crossroads. Holladay Village sits on the exact spot, four walkable blocks of it.
The first shelter anybody built here was a hole in the ground held up by damp earth. The oldest building material in this valley is the one you are still allowed to put your hands in.
A coincidence Holladay people will enjoy
The anchor tenant on the old Cottonwood Mall site is a workspace brand called Kiln. It is a coworking company and not a pottery kiln, and it opened in February 2026. There is now somewhere in Holladay called Kiln with no kiln in it.
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.
A city that is finished building, and twenty minutes from one that is not
Holladay is essentially built out. Controlling commercial development and keeping the open space are the defining political arguments, and they have been for years. Fine old homes, wooded lots, mature trees, nothing much new.
It is a genuinely lovely place to live and a quiet place to want something to do on a Wednesday. The arts council runs about twenty free evenings a year. That leaves three hundred and forty five.
Twenty minutes south is a room that is noisy, wet, unfinished and open seven days a week, which is the exact opposite of everything above and is the point.
- 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 nothing half finished comes home to a tidy house.
- No season and no weather. It runs the same in February as in July.
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 Holladay
We are not the only option from Holladay, and a couple of these are closer. Here they are.
- Make your own
Cottonwood Clay Studio
7587 S State St in Midvale, southwest of you and a shorter run than ours. Weekday taught classes, with open studio kept for people enrolled in a current class.
- Paint your own
Color Me Mine Salt Lake
2725 E Parleys Way, north of you and the nearest paint your own. Pre-made pieces, you decorate, they fire. A good evening and a completely different activity.
There is nowhere inside Holladay to make the piece yourself, which for a city with its own arts council and a plein air event is a strange gap. If it closes, this page will say so.
What people from Holladay ask
How far is The Clay Hole from Holladay?
About thirteen miles, eighteen to twenty minutes by I-215 and I-15. It is a shorter drive than the queue up Big or Little Cottonwood on a powder morning.
Is Holladay really the oldest settlement in Utah?
Holladay claims the oldest continuously inhabited ground, on the grounds that Salt Lake City was abandoned for a time in 1857. Pioneers found Spring Creek on 29 July 1847 and two or three men wintered there in dugouts. It is a claim with a caveat in it, which is why the city words it carefully.
Can I take a single pottery class instead of joining?
No. Monthly membership is the only way in. Pottery takes weeks to finish a piece. Color Me Mine on Parleys Way is the nearest one-evening option and it is paint your own.
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, which means nothing gets delivered to a house that does not want more parcels.
Do you take beginners?
Almost every member started with no idea what they were doing. Every instructed class has instructors working the room.
What are the class times?
Instructed classes Monday through Thursday evenings plus Monday daytime. Friday evening and both weekend mornings are open studio. None of it is seasonal, which matters in a city that plans around canyon conditions.
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 Holladay 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.