Red Kiln Pottery in Salt Lake City. Image by Shawn Rossiter.

Still itching for clay now that NCECA has passed? There is no need to clear out the garage and buy yourself a wheel and kiln. Ceramics is, by the nature of its processes, a community-oriented practice. The energy intensive, hours-long firings, equipment, and material needs make it more economical, efficient, and fun to work and learn with a group, share large batches, and fire together. Utah offers a preponderance of community ceramic studios, from down-home to bougie and with artists’ atelier to spa/gym vibes where you can get your hands dirty without tracking claydust through the house. With just a few exceptions, most community studios offer mid-range oxidation firing and require class enrollment or membership for access to their kilns. An extensive list of community studios follows below.

Salt Lake County

Chad Adelhart’s intimate studio Adelhardt’s Pottery & Prints in Millcreek hosts open-ended “Make Something Classes” for groups of four. There is a café on site!

Art Haus has provided pottery classes for children and adults in the Maven District since 2016 and is expanding its facility this spring. Stephanie Hillman’s popular studio is open 7 days a week, offers open studio hours in addition to scheduled classes and hosts art workshops, children’s summer camps, and private art-themed parties. Mid-range oxidation firing.

Just opened this month, The Clay Hole near IKEA in Draper offers tiered pottery memberships for clay enthusiasts who want ceramic guidance from skilled on-site instructors and easy access to snacks. Its internet famous owner, Dan Pearce, opened the Clay Hole as an antidote to dating apps. The studio has everything in excess.

Cottonwood Clay Studio in Midvale is owned by Utah State University alumni Shasta Krueger and Adam Addley. The studio’s instructors are active artists and educators skilled in both wheel and handbuilding techniques. Enrollment for each six-week class caps at 10 students to ensure individualized instruction.

You’ll find the  thriving (and sunny!) Iron Desert Arts studio tucked in the Sugar House Alley behind Best Friends Animal Society. The studio has been providing classes, memberships, and guest workshops since 2017. Owner Pete Bringhurst, formerly studio head at Pioneer Craft House, often opens the studio during Sugar House gallery strolls.

The crew at Art Haus celebrates a fresh batch of pots.

Bring lotion. Whether climbing or throwing pots, your hands are likely to get dry at The Front Climbing Club in SLC’s Central 9th neighborhood.

Mark Peterson and his father Pete opened Peterson Art Center in 1995 above Blick Art Supplies in Sugar House. This is the only membership-free community offering high-fire, reduction firing. Petersen students build their skills and explore new techniques in a supportive environment  thanks to affordable 4-week classes that include six hours of studio time each week.

Founded in 1994, Red Kiln Pottery Studio & Gallery near Liberty Park started as a small group of potters looking for a lively place to work and share ideas, techniques, materials and high-fire, reduction firings. After offering classes for two decades the studio pivoted to an atelier for its 60 member potters. Although memberships are currently waitlisting, the gallery is open daily and showcases the functional and sculptural work of 15 Utah clay artists.

Madison Nillson’s Salt Lake Pottery Studio is a bright studio space in the 9th & 9th business district offering beginning wheel throwing classes. Tiered monthly memberships are currently waitlisted. The studio also hosts pottery painting events in coffeeshops and breweries around town.

Studio 1369 is an amenity of the Front Climbing Club in the Central Ninth neighborhood. Club members can sign up for studio hand building and wheel throwing sessions or assisted or unassisted open studio time.

From its outset in 1978, the not-for-profit Visual Art Institute (VAI) helps creatives across media and from all backgrounds maintain and foster their creativity. Two years ago VAI relocated from Highland Drive to an historic meat packing facility in the Tile Mile district. Its new, spacious, well-equipped ceramics facility offers economically priced 12-week classes, and occasional workshops.

Lucia Heffernan’s Workshop SLC on 21st South near 2nd West in South Salt Lake touts itself as a creative hub for creatives of all stripes. For those inclined towards clay, Workshop offers 4-8 week wheel throwing classes, handbuilding classes on an ongoing basis, guest workshops, and membership-based studio access.

Sunstone Studios in North Salt Lake.

Davis County

Sunstone Studios is an offshoot of Sunstone Pottery & Supply, perhaps the largest distributor of clay and materials in the Mountain West. Ceramicists venerate owner Jim Simister and his family for their decades-long support and nurturing of the clay community at large. The North Salt Lake studio sits adjacent to the showroom and offers classes and workshops for every level of experience. Kiln rental is available here.

Cindy Erikson’s Muddie Buddies Pottery and Art Studioin Bountiful is just a short jaunt from downtown Salt Lake City. The large airy studio offers 6-week classes for hand builders and beginning and intermediate wheel throwers in the spring and fall and open studio time during the summer months. There is a gas kiln for high-fire reduction firing on site.

In addition to its year-round exhibitions, Bountiful Davis Art Center (BDAC) also provides hands-on art-making programs including 6-Week handbuilding and wheel throwing classes for adults and youth.

Maple Mountain Pottery

Utah County

With locations in Provo, Pleasant Grove, and St. George, the Kreative Kiln menu lists clay experiences by the hour, a “Pottery Wheel Accelerator Program,” (which is exactly what it sounds like), memberships, and private group events.

Maple Mountain Pottery wheel and handbuilding classes accommodate beginner to advanced students aged 14 or older. The studio uses a high-fire reduction kiln. The six-week classes include one hour of studio time each week.

Throw Art Studio in Provo offers beginner wheel throwing classes for adults and children.

Thrown Studio in Salem provides open studio hours to local clay artists in hour increments, 10 hour blocks, or unlimited monthly passes. Potters can access the studio any time during operating hours provided a class or other event is not in session.

Experienced potters and newbies in Orem will find the classes, memberships, and studio hours to meet their needs Villa Ceramics. The studio has one-time 90 minute classes for the curious, three levels of five-week courses, tiered memberships, and open studio hours by appointment for ceramic artists.

Studio potter Edward Ham teaches month-long, morning and evening classes at his home-based White Stone Pottery in Alpine.

Summit County

Bill Kimball founded the Kimball Art Center in 1976 as a resource for creative expression, social connection, and community dialogue. The center offers try-it classes and 6-Week courses for all levels in hand-building and wheel-throwing for adults and children.

Cache County

Cache Valley Pottery Studio near Logan, Utah offers 7 week courses in wheel throwing and handbuilding, specialized kids’ classes and summer camps. The very reasonably priced classes include materials, tools, unlimited clay, glazes, and firing costs.

The Cache Valley Center for the Arts has been offering classes for kids and adults for many years. You can choose hand built or wheel thrown projects, and new students can try it out for free with a 2-hour session.

Shape Theory Cermics in Iron County.

Iron County

Russel Wrankle’s Shape Theory Ceramics goes beyond just teaching the ceramic craft, its seven-week wheel-throwing classes aim to build a supportive community in a place where people can connect and create together. Classes meet once per week and include ample studio time for practice. Studio memberships became available this spring.

Washington County

In St. George and Spanish Fork the clay curious, young and old, can “Give it a Whirl” at the The Tilted Kiln. These two-hour one-off classes, offered almost daily, will give students the basic beginning techniques to make pottery on the wheel. All-level, four-week wheel throwing and handbuilding classes and kids clay camps are also available.

If you know of a ceramics studio in Utah not listed here, please let us know.

Brandi Chase

Brandi Chase is poet, student, teacher and maker of pots (most often, but one never knows). She loves red lipstick.