Pottery Classes Near North Salt Lake, Utah
The Clay Hole is a community pottery studio in Draper, about half an hour south of North Salt Lake. Wheels, hand building, slab molds, the glaze wall and the kilns, all on one monthly membership.
There is a studio in your own city that will sell you a kiln, and we will say so before we say anything about ourselves. Membership here is the only way in, and there are no drop-in classes.
The drive from North Salt Lake
South, and further than most people expect. You go down the length of the Salt Lake Valley and out the far end of it, past downtown and past Sandy.
- South on I-15, picking it up from US-89 or I-215.
- The length of the valley, past downtown, to exit 289, Bangerter Highway.
- West on Bangerter to the 200 W exit, then right on 13490 S.
- Pony Express Rd past IKEA and Living Spaces. We are on the left.
About twenty four miles, roughly half an hour when the freeway is behaving. It is one straight road and almost all of it is I-15.
FrontRunner runs from Woods Cross to Draper station, which covers most of this. The Draper end is a couple of miles out with the rail corridor in the way, so budget a rideshare for the last piece.
When you get here
Free and shared with a few other businesses. Anything not marked reserved is yours. No permit, no app, no meter.
Eleven and a half miles of road with a trail down all of it and not one billboard
The Legacy Parkway opened on 13 September 2008 and runs eleven and a half miles from I-215 north to the Wasatch Weave in Farmington. A paved trail runs the entire length of it, with pedestrian overpasses and underpasses so you never cross traffic.
No billboards are permitted along it. That was written in.
The Legacy Nature Preserve, two thousand two hundred and twenty five acres, borders it on the west. The speed limit was 55 and semi trucks were banned, both part of a 2005 compromise, and both ended on 1 January 2020.
The other thing on the skyline
The refinery flare stacks on Beck Street are a landmark whether anyone wants them to be, and they have been the subject of federal enforcement and a relocation petition. We are not going to write you a paragraph about clean mountain air. You live there and you know what you can smell.
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.
Two hundred and fifty five people in 1950, and nearly twenty two thousand now
That is the whole story of the city in one line. It was essentially nothing within living memory and it is a full city now, almost all of it built in the last twenty five years. The median age is thirty and nearly a third of the population is under eighteen.
A city that new does not have much that is worn in. The parks are good, the bench views over Antelope Island are genuinely something, and most of what you do outside is outside.
What half an hour south buys is an indoor thing that is entirely yours, that runs in February, and that nobody else in the household has a claim on.
- Open studio Friday evening and both weekend mornings, on top of the classes.
- Seven days a week, including the months when the trail is slush.
- Four instructed classes a month at the lowest level, eight at the highest.
- Your own shelf, so a half hour drive is one trip a week rather than three.
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 North Salt Lake
North Salt Lake has one of the most complete pottery setups in the state inside its own city limits. Start there, genuinely.
- Make your own
Sunstone Pottery & Supply and The Sunstone Studio
In North Salt Lake. One address doing two jobs: multi week wheel and hand building courses, intermediate classes, visiting artist workshops, date nights, summer camps for ten to sixteen year olds, monthly memberships and open studio, plus a shop selling clay, glazes and kilns. It is one of the few places in the state that both teaches and fires outside work. Class and membership prices are not published, so registration goes through their booking system.
- Make your own
Muddie Buddies Pottery Studio
Bountiful, a few minutes north. Beginning and intermediate wheel, hand building, kids classes, and monthly studio time at $80 for people with enough experience to work unsupervised. Adult classes $350 for twelve weeks or $275 for eight.
- Make your own
Bountiful Davis Art Center
Bountiful, on Main Street. A hand building course for adults in four week blocks at $245, inside a wider art center program. Hand building only in the current listing: no wheel class and no open studio.
Sunstone is in your city, teaches, fires outside work and will sell you a kiln. If any of those three is what you actually need, there is no argument for driving half an hour past it to reach us.
What people from North Salt Lake ask
How far is The Clay Hole from North Salt Lake?
About twenty four miles and roughly half an hour, south on I-15 the whole way. You go down the length of the valley and out the far end, past downtown and past Sandy.
There is a studio in North Salt Lake. Why drive to Draper?
Often you should not, and Sunstone is the honest first answer for anyone in this city. The reasons people make this drive anyway are open studio seven days a week, four kilns, a wall of six hundred and fifty glazes and published prices you can read before you commit.
Can I take a single pottery class instead of joining?
No. Monthly membership is the only way in, with no drop-in classes and no single sessions. Sunstone in your own city runs date nights and workshops, which is the better answer for a one off.
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 bought by the bag at the front desk.
Do you take beginners?
Most people who join have never touched a wheel. In a city that went from two hundred and fifty five people to nearly twenty two thousand, being new to something is close to the local default.
Can I get there without driving?
Mostly. FrontRunner from Woods Cross to Draper station covers the long middle of the trip. The last couple of miles at the Draper end are awkward because the rail corridor sits in the way, so plan on a rideshare for that.
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 North Salt Lake 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.