Pottery Classes in the South Valley, Utah
The Clay Hole is a community pottery studio in Draper, which puts it in the middle of the South Valley rather than at the end of a drive from it. Wheels, hand building, slab molds, glaze and firing, all on one monthly membership.
This is the only one of our region pages where the honest answer to how far it is, is barely. Membership is the only way in, and there are no drop-in classes.
Every South Valley city, and how long it actually takes
The South Valley has no legal boundary. It is how people here talk about the bottom end of the Salt Lake Valley, roughly everything south of about 9000 South. Here is all of it, nearest first.
About five minutes
Draper
We are in Draper, on Pony Express Road west of I-15.
Bluffdale
Two miles south. Pony Express Road runs most of the way.
SunCrest
Down Traverse Ridge Road and you are here. Longer coming back up.
Ten to fifteen minutes
Sandy
North up I-15 or straight across on the surface streets.
White City
Sego Lily and down. The smallest city on this whole list.
Riverton
Straight across the valley floor, no freeway needed.
South Jordan
Ten minutes north, and easier than the District on a Friday.
Daybreak
Watch Bangerter at five and it is a short run.
Fifteen to twenty minutes
Herriman
Southwest, past the reservoir side of the valley.
West Jordan
Bangerter east, then south. One road most of the way.
Midvale
North on the freeway, or Main Street if you prefer it.
If your city is not here it is probably on the Salt Lake Valley page, which covers the whole basin from Bluffdale up to the Avenues.
The end of one valley and the start of another, and the studio sits at the seam
The Traverse Mountains close the bottom of the Salt Lake Valley. Only two roads get over them, I-15 and Redwood Road, which is why everybody here has an opinion about the Point of the Mountain and a preferred time of day for it.
The studio is a couple of miles north of that pinch. That is not a boast, it is just where the building is, and it is the reason a Bluffdale member and a Sandy member both call this a short drive.
The other thing about this end of the valley is how new it is. Daybreak did not exist. Herriman was fifteen hundred people. SunCrest was a ridge. Most of what is here was built inside twenty five years.
And the old prison ground is being rebuilt right now
The Utah State Prison took six hundred acres of Draper from 1951 until it closed in 2022. The state broke ground on The Point in December 2024, a build planned over thirty years. It is a few minutes from the studio and it will be changing the whole time anybody reading this is a member.
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.
Everywhere else we argue the drive is worth it. Here there is no drive to argue about
The four other region pages spend their time being honest about distance. Utah County is over a mountain pass. Park City is an hour. Bountiful is out the far end of the valley.
From the South Valley it is five to twenty minutes and the argument is over. What is left is the ordinary question of whether you want to do this at all, which is a much better question.
The thing membership actually buys is repetition. A skill moves when you touch it twice a week, not once a month, and living this close is the only reliable way anybody manages twice a week at anything.
- Open studio Friday evening and both weekend mornings, on top of the classes.
- Four instructed classes a month at the lowest level, eight at the highest.
- Your own shelf, so an hour on a Tuesday is a real option rather than a project.
- Teenagers 14 and over can join alongside a parent who is also a member.
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 across the South Valley
Three places in the South Valley where you make the piece yourself, and we would rather you knew all of them.
- Make your own
Club Mud
Bluffdale, on 13800 South. Beginning and intermediate wheel classes, one off sessions at $35 plus firing, workshops and parties, six wheels in a session. Regular classes are 21 and over and booking is by direct contact.
- Make your own
Bella Rosa Pottery
Herriman, family owned, in a studio behind the house. Eight week wheel and hand building courses plus shorter Clay Nights. They cannot take walk ins and the eight week classes had a waitlist.
- Make your own
Copper Kiln
Also Herriman. Eight week courses at $270 including twenty five pounds of clay, glazes, firings and one open studio day a week, running Monday through Thursday evenings. You can start any week.
For a fixed course with an end date, Copper Kiln and Bella Rosa are both good and both cheaper than a year of membership. We are the answer for somebody who wants the room open seven days a week.
What people from the South Valley ask
Where exactly is the studio?
12896 S Pony Express Rd in Draper, west of I-15 and just south of 12300 South. Past IKEA and Living Spaces, and we are on the left.
Which South Valley city is closest?
Draper, because we are in it. After that Bluffdale is about two miles and SunCrest is a run down Traverse Ridge Road. Nothing on this page is more than about twenty minutes.
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. Club Mud in Bluffdale runs one off wheel sessions at $35 plus firing, which is the closest thing to a single class anywhere in the South Valley.
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 part of the valley where most of the housing is younger than twenty five years, almost nobody has been doing anything here very long.
Is there parking?
Yes, and free. Shared lot on Pony Express Road, and anything not marked reserved for a neighboring 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 the South Valley 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.