Pottery Classes Near Riverton, Utah
The Clay Hole is a community pottery studio in Draper, straight east across the valley floor from Riverton. A room of wheels, hand building tables, slab molds and a glaze wall, on one monthly membership.
Riverton City Hall and this studio sit at almost exactly the same latitude. Membership is the only way in, and there are no drop-in classes, which is the part most people want to know first.
The drive from Riverton
You are going east, not north. Riverton and the studio are at nearly the same line on the grid, separated by the Jordan River and the freeway.
- East on 12600 South or 13400 South toward I-15.
- South on I-15 to Exit 289, Bangerter Highway, or straight across on the surface roads.
- West on Bangerter to the 200 W exit, then right on 13490 S over to Pony Express Rd.
- Past IKEA and Living Spaces. We are on the left.
Six or seven miles across, and about twelve minutes when the roads are behaving. Redwood Road and Bangerter both back up at five, like everything else in the valley.
Nothing useful. Riverton to here is a car trip, and a short one.
When you get here
Parking is free and shared with a few other businesses. Anything not marked reserved for one of them is yours. You come at it from the west, so the building is on your right before you reach IKEA.
The first people here lived in holes they dug in the riverbank
Riverton's own history says it plainly. Before the canals came, the settlers lived in crude dugout homes scattered along the river bottom. The South Jordan Canal around 1876 and the Utah and Salt Lake Canal in 1881 opened thousands of acres and the town moved up out of the dirt.
The Old Dome Meeting Hall is what the city put in its own logo. The original dome went up starting in 1899, was dedicated in 1920 and was gone by 1939. Granite bench stones from its foundation still sit as a marker on Park Avenue.
Riverton is now recorded as 100 percent urban. Every acre of the farmland that made it is under something. That happened inside living memory, and people here remember it.
Worth knowing
There is no pottery in Riverton's history that we could find, and the city has no water area at all despite the name. What it has is dugouts, canals and a white dome, and that is enough of a story without us borrowing one.
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 of 45,000 with a rodeo arena and not much for a Wednesday
Riverton does the big communal thing extremely well. Town Days in June with a rodeo, a parade, a carnival, a chuckwagon breakfast and a cornhole tournament. Thirty three parks and nearly five thousand publicly owned trees.
What it does not have is the ordinary Wednesday. The week between the festivals, when the kids are in bed and the house is quiet and the only thing on offer is another episode of something.
Twelve minutes east there is a room with wheels in it. That is the entire pitch.
- Four instructed classes a month at the lowest level, eight at the highest.
- Open studio on Friday evening and both weekend mornings, on top of the classes.
- Your own shelf, so a piece can sit half done for a week.
- Nothing to buy first. Clay by the bag, firing by the size of the piece.
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 Riverton
We are not the only option from Riverton, and for some people we are not the right one. Here is what else is close.
- Make your own
Bella Rosa Pottery
In Herriman, just southwest and almost certainly your nearest option for making something yourself. Eight week courses in wheel and hand building, plus shorter Clay Nights and kids' summer camps.
- Paint your own
Color Me Mine West Jordan
3751 W Center Park Dr, near Jordan Landing and an easy run north for anyone in Riverton. Pre-made pieces, you paint, they fire. Different evening entirely.
We could not find a studio inside Riverton city limits where you make the piece yourself. If we have missed one, tell us and we will add it.
What people from Riverton ask
How far is The Clay Hole from Riverton?
Six or seven miles straight east, about twelve minutes. Riverton City Hall and the studio sit at almost the same latitude, so you are crossing the valley rather than going up or down it.
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. For a single evening, Bella Rosa in Herriman runs shorter Clay Nights.
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 nothing has to be ordered and nothing waits on a delivery across the valley.
Do you take beginners?
The large majority of members had never sat at a wheel before they joined. Every instructed class has instructors working the room, which is the difference between learning it and watching a video alone in a garage.
What are the class times?
Instructed classes Monday through Thursday evenings plus Monday daytime. Friday evening and both weekend mornings are open studio. Twelve minutes east makes a weeknight session a real option rather than a project.
Is there parking?
Yes, and free. Shared lot on Pony Express Road, straight across the valley from Riverton. Anything not marked reserved for another business is yours.
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 Riverton 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.