Clay Arts Vegas

From restaurant plates to beginner wheels

If you have eaten at Esther's Kitchen, your plate may have come from Clay Arts Vegas. When chef James Trees was getting ready to open the restaurant and asked around for locally made dishes, people sent him to this Arville Street pottery studio. Co-owner Peter Jakubowski threw the bowls and plates, hundreds of them, and co-owner Thomas Bumblauskas glazed them and made the water pitchers. The studio has also made pieces for Ada's, CC Speakeasy, Main St. Provisions and Partage, and it takes custom orders for tableware, artwork and urns, which take 8 to 12 weeks.

Both owners came to clay from theater. Bumblauskas designed for theater and film before pottery let him control a piece from start to finish. Jakubowski is drawn to how long ceramics last; as he told Las Vegas Weekly, “We still do processes that are exactly the same that someone did 4,000 years ago.”

Taking a class

Classes are for ages 16 and up, in wheel-throwing and hand-building, project-based and mixed-level. A session buys one class a week for eight weeks plus an hour of independent studio time before each class, and cone 5 firing of that work is included. There are no drop-in or trial classes, though private lessons are available, and Family Class and Clay Camp sessions appear at times during the year. Visiting ceramic artists lead workshops.

Also under the roof

• A clay and supply store open to the public, stocking 65 clay bodies, hundreds of glazes and underglazes, and tools
• Kiln firing for outside potters' low- and mid-fire work, by drop-off, with about a two-week turnaround
• The Victor F. Keen Gallery, where Jakubowski has organized more than 60 ceramic exhibitions
• An artist residency, started in 2017, with room for two residents

The studio grew out of the first Las Vegas pottery tour, and in 2019 it moved into an 8,000-square-foot space with semi-private studios.

Store and gallery hours: Tuesday to Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday noon to 3 p.m.

Visit or contact Clay Arts Vegas

1353 Arville Street, Las Vegas, NV 89102
702-375-4147
Business website

Researched September 26, 2026. Source 1; Source 2; Source 3; Source 4; Source 5; Source 6. This is an independent directory listing, not a claim that the owner has joined or installed a badge. For a correction or removal, contact Cody. Listings are free and badges are optional.