Pottery Classes Near Sugar House, Utah
The Clay Hole is a community pottery studio in Draper, about twenty five minutes south of Sugar House. Wheel throwing, hand building, slab molds, the glaze wall and the kilns, on one monthly membership.
Sugar House has the best clay story in this valley and a 1902 kiln chimney still standing to prove it. Membership is the only way in here, and there are no drop-in classes.
The drive from Sugar House
West to the freeway, then south. The drive is dull and the destination is not.
- West on 2100 South to I-15, or south on 700 East and then across.
- 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 seventeen miles, roughly twenty five minutes free flowing. Longer at five, like everything that uses I-15.
The S Line and the TRAX network are excellent and none of it comes here. Plan on driving.
When you arrive
Parking is free and shared with a few other businesses. Anything not marked reserved is yours. After Sugar House this will feel like an absurd amount of it.
The kiln chimney on Brickyard Road has been standing since 1902
Edward Potter Hemsley and his brother Job ran a brickyard here that they called The Brickyard, and the bricks that came out of it built early homes, businesses and the first schoolhouse in Sugar House. Brigham Young rescinded Hemsley's mission call so he would keep making them.
John Cahoon's Salt Lake Pressed Brick Company bought the land in 1891 and became the largest brick and clay products maker in the state, supplying pressed brick, common brick, sewer pipe and drain tile across the Intermountain West. It was reorganized as Interstate Brick in 1936 and ran until November 1972.
The chimney is still there. A 1902 kiln stack, on a road named Brickyard, in a neighborhood whose bungalows are built out of what came out of that pit. You have walked past it.
Sugar House sent something down here once already
Sugar House Prison opened in 1855 and closed in 1951 because the housing had reached it. On 12 March 1951 its 575 inmates were put on buses and driven twenty two miles south to the new prison in Draper. That prison closed in 2022 and the ground is being rebuilt right now, a few minutes from this studio. The old site became Sugar House Park.
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.
The most walkable neighborhood in the valley, and a twenty five minute drive is still the right call
Sugar House is genuinely good at this. A business district you can walk, a streetcar down an old rail corridor, a hundred and ten acre park with a sledding hill. Most people who live there are proud of not needing the car.
So a twenty five minute drive is a real ask and we are not going to pretend otherwise. There are two studios closer to you.
What is down here is the thing a walkable neighborhood cannot fit: ten thousand square feet, a room of wheels, 650 glazes and four kilns. You cannot put that in a storefront on 2100 South, and that is the entire argument.
- 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 the drive happens once a week rather than every session.
- Seven days a week, which lets you pick a time I-15 is not full.
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 Sugar House
Two of these are a walk or a short drive from you, which is the honest starting point for this page.
- Make your own
Salt Lake Pottery Studio
965 E 900 S, a few minutes northwest of Sugar House and the broadest offering in the city. Wheel and hand building, kids, one time experiences, multi week courses, memberships and private events.
- Paint your own
Color Me Mine Salt Lake
2725 E Parleys Way, minutes east. You choose a finished piece and decorate it and they fire it. The easiest evening within reach of Sugar House.
- Make your own
Art Haus
177 E 900 S. Adult wheel and hand building classes, close in, and a much shorter trip than ours.
If you can walk or cycle to a studio, do that. This page is for the person who has already tried one of them and wants more room, more glaze and a kiln schedule that runs constantly.
What people from Sugar House ask
How far is The Clay Hole from Sugar House?
About seventeen miles, roughly twenty five minutes free flowing and longer in rush hour. It is a real drive from a neighborhood that prides itself on not driving.
Is the old brick chimney really still there?
Yes. The 1902 kiln chimney from the Salt Lake Pressed Brick works still stands at Brickyard Plaza, on Brickyard Road. The plant ran until November 1972 and the brick from that pit is in the walls of a great many Sugar House houses.
Why drive to Draper when there are studios walking distance from me?
Mostly you should not. Salt Lake Pottery Studio and Art Haus are both good and both close. The drive is worth it only if what you want is scale, and if you have already run into waiting for a wheel or running out of glazes somewhere smaller.
Can I take a single pottery class instead of joining?
No. Monthly membership is the only way in. Salt Lake Pottery Studio runs one time experiences and is a few minutes from you.
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 firing is charged by the size of the piece.
What are the class times?
Instructed classes Monday through Thursday evenings plus Monday daytime. Friday evening and both weekend mornings are open studio. Seven days a week, which means you can pick a time the freeway is behaving.
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 Sugar House 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.