Pottery Classes Near The Avenues, Salt Lake City
The Clay Hole is a community pottery studio in Draper, about half an hour south of The Avenues. Wheel work, hand building, slab molds, glaze and kiln time, all on one monthly membership.
Your neighborhood has a hundred makers on a waiting list for one street fair. Membership here is the only way in, and there are no drop-in classes.
The drive from The Avenues
Downhill first, which is the part that takes the longest. Get down out of the lettered streets to South Temple, then it is one freeway the rest of the way.
- Down to South Temple, then west to I-15 southbound.
- South the length of the valley 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 one miles and roughly half an hour free-flow. The freeway part is straightforward. The first mile, getting down off the hill and across downtown, is the bit that varies.
TRAX from downtown gets you most of the way south, and the walk at the Draper end is not short. Most people drive this, and the honest answer is that a car is easier.
When you get here
Free, shared and flat, and there is a great deal of it. Anything not marked reserved for a neighboring business is yours. Nobody here has ever circled a block.
A hundred people are waiting for a table at your own street fair
The Avenues Street Fair runs on 1st Avenue between I and O Streets, organized by the Greater Avenues Community Council, with live music, local arts and crafts vendors, food and a People's Art Gallery.
There is a vendor waiting list of a hundred.
That is the most specific fact anybody could tell you about who lives in this neighborhood. A hundred people who make things, in a few dozen square blocks, queuing for one Saturday in October to sell them to their neighbors.
The grid is the other giveaway
Numbered Avenues run east to west, lettered streets A through U and then Virginia run north to south. The neighborhood was platted in two and a half acre blocks cut into four lots, while the rest of the city used ten acre blocks with eight. Smaller lots, narrower streets, bigger houses, and a walk to your own front door that is often interrupted by a set of steps.
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.
You have more studios within fifteen minutes than anywhere else on this site, and they are full
This is the honest situation. Salt Lake City has the densest concentration of ceramics teaching in the state and The Avenues sits right on top of it. We are half an hour away and most of them are fifteen minutes.
The catch is capacity. Petersen Art Center runs sixteen pottery sections at once and still says plainly that it has had waiting lists for all pottery classes for some time. Red Kiln is members only, twenty one and over, and wants a ceramics background, three photographs of your recent work and an interview.
So the real question here is not distance. It is whether the thing you want has a seat in it this month.
- Twenty nine wheels, so a busy evening is still a wheel rather than a waitlist.
- 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, which most city studios cannot give you at any price.
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 The Avenues
More options here than anywhere else we write about. These are the ones closest to The Avenues, with what they actually cost.
- Make your own
Petersen Art Center
Salt Lake City, and the biggest teaching operation on this page: sixteen pottery sections running at once, twenty electric wheels after a recent expansion, kids classes and raku firings in summer. Tuition $130 a class plus $40 clay including firing and $30 for tools. Several sections are marked full with a waiting list, and they say they have had waiting lists for all pottery classes for some time.
- Make your own
Art Haus
Salt Lake City. Four week wheel throwing and hand building for adults and teens from fourteen, kids pottery from five, one time workshops and summer camps, running seven days a week with materials included in most classes. Try it out class $65, four week course $175. They run a scholarship program for reduced or free classes.
- Make your own
Salt Lake Pottery Studio
Salt Lake City. Wheel throwing, hand building, kids classes, one time experiences, multi week courses, memberships, punch passes and open studio. Clay on site at $26 to $35 a bag. Their page describes memberships as starting around $90 a month, though the tier table would not load for us, so check the current figure with them.
If Art Haus has a seat, take it. Sixty five dollars and fifteen minutes beats half an hour and a monthly commitment for anyone still deciding whether they like this. Come to us when the city studios are full or you want your own shelf.
What people from The Avenues ask
How far is The Clay Hole from The Avenues?
About twenty one miles and roughly half an hour. Down to South Temple, west to I-15, then south the length of the valley. The first mile off the hill is the slow part.
Why would I drive past five city studios?
Capacity, mostly. Petersen has had waiting lists across all its pottery classes for some time and Red Kiln is members only with an interview. If a city studio has a seat for you, take it. We are the answer when they do not, or when you want a shelf of your own and seven days a week.
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. Art Haus runs a try it out class for $65 and that is a much better first step.
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, which is one less thing to carry up a set of front steps.
Do you take beginners?
Most people who join have never touched a wheel. In a neighborhood with a hundred makers on a street fair waiting list, being the person who has not started yet is a fixable condition.
Is there parking?
Yes, free, shared and flat. After a neighborhood platted in quarter blocks with narrow streets and cars on both sides, it is an unreasonable amount of space.
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 Avenues 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.