Pottery near South Jordan

Pottery Classes Near South Jordan, Utah

The Clay Hole is a community pottery studio in Draper, a few minutes south of South Jordan. Wheels, hand building, slab molds, the glaze wall and firing, on a single monthly membership.

Membership is the only way in. There are no drop-in classes and no single sessions, which is the part most people want to know first.

See membership The drive from South Jordan
A man in an enormous empty parking lot at dusk holding his first lopsided handmade pot, the only object for a mile that nobody mass produced, South Jordan, Utah
Getting here

The drive from South Jordan

South and slightly east. If you can get to the District you can get here, and it is not much further.

  1. South on I-15 from 10600 South, or south on Bangerter Highway.
  2. I-15 to Exit 291, 12300 South, or Bangerter straight to its south end.
  3. Off I-15, west to Lone Peak Parkway. Off Bangerter, the 200 W exit and right on 13490 S.
  4. Both land on Pony Express Rd. We are at 12896, before IKEA.

Roughly three miles down the grid and a few west. Ten minutes off peak. From the far west side near Daybreak it is longer, and there is a separate page for that.

South Jordan FrontRunner and the Red Line both run, but neither lands close enough to walk from. Plan on driving.

When you get here

Parking is free and shared with a few other businesses. Anything not marked reserved for one of them is yours, and it is a great deal easier than the District on a Friday night.

Full directions and map
South Jordan ground

The man who settled this town was a blacksmith

Alexander Beckstead came from Ontario in 1859 and the street by the Gale Center still carries his name. A blacksmith is someone who makes things out of a material that only cooperates at the right temperature, which is a description a potter will recognize.

The land here is dead flat, and that is not an accident. It is Lake Bonneville sediment, laid down and levelled by a lake that is no longer there. Every other town in the valley is on a bench. South Jordan is on a lakebed.

It is also the first municipality in the world to have two temples, which is the kind of statistic a city puts on its own website, and does.

The local shorthand

SoJo is not slang somebody made up. The city government uses it, on its own festival. If a page calls it that, it is because the city does.

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 leave your own streets

Everything here is somewhere to buy something

The District is 120 acres and 852,000 square feet of retail across three city blocks with a twenty screen cinema. It is a good place to spend an evening and it is a good place to spend money.

What South Jordan is short of is the other kind of evening. The one where you make something instead of choosing something.

Ten minutes south there is a room with 29 wheels and a wall of glaze, and the only thing you leave with is what you made.

  • 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 has to come home wet.
  • Teenagers 14 and over can join alongside a parent who is also a member.
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 South Jordan

We are not the only option from South Jordan. Here is what else is within reach.

  • Paint your own

    Color Me Mine West Jordan

    3751 W Center Park Dr, a few minutes north of you. You choose a finished piece and decorate it. Much lower commitment and a completely different thing from making it.

  • Make your own

    Cottonwood Clay Studio

    7587 S State St in Midvale, northeast across the valley. Taught classes Monday through Friday. Their open studio is for people enrolled in a current class, which is the main structural difference from us.

  • Make your own

    Bella Rosa Pottery

    In Herriman to the southwest. Eight week courses rather than a membership, plus shorter Clay Nights. Good if you want a fixed run with a finish line.

We could not find a studio inside South Jordan city limits where you make the piece yourself, which is surprising for a city of 77,000. If we have missed one, tell us and it goes on this page.

Compare 14 Utah studios Every pottery studio in Utah
Nearby

The rest of the South Valley

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

Questions

What people from South Jordan ask

How far is The Clay Hole from South Jordan?

About three miles down the grid from the middle of the city, ten minutes off peak. From the west side near Daybreak it is longer and there is a separate page for that.

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, and a one night class sends you home with wet clay and no way to fire it.

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, and unlike most of what is sold on this side of the valley it is not a subscription to anything.

Do you take beginners?

Most of the room has been doing this for under a year. Every instructed class has instructors working the room, so a first night is a first night rather than an hour of being politely lost.

What are the class times?

Instructed classes Monday through Thursday evenings plus Monday daytime. Friday evening and both weekend mornings are open studio. Ten minutes south puts a Tuesday evening well inside reach.

Is there parking?

Yes, and free. Shared lot on Pony Express Road, and a great deal easier than the District on a Friday night.

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 South Jordan 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.