16th Annual Pottery Studio Tour & Sale

When: 5/10/08
Where: Harris, North Branch, Lindstrom, Taylors Falls, and Shafer
Who: The Minnesota Potters of the Upper St. Croix River: Robert Briscoe, Kathryn Finnerty, Mary Barringer, Suze Lindsay, Matthew Metz, Jo Severson, Kent McLaughlin (at Briscoe's studio); Richard Vincent, Sandra Byers, Winthrop Byers, Bill Gossman, Chris & Sue Holmquist (at Vincent's studio); Will Swanson, Ellen Sankin, Silvie Granatelli (at Swanson's studio); Connee Mayeron, Liz Quackenbush, Curtis Hoard, Amy Sabrina, Gail Kendall (at Mayeron's studio); Jeff Oestreich; Linda Christianson, Kristin Pavelka, Guillermo Cuellar, Scott Goldberg, Kirk Lyttle (at Christianson's studio)

The day started out sunny and perfect but turned to rain by mid-afternoon. The pots were wonderful and the crowds were strong, especially at Briscoe's, where people came up the steps in waves and stood in long lines to pay. We all found things we loved and brought home. Best to start saving up for next year.

Top photo: The scene at Briscoe's during a relatively calm moment. Here's where we eat and drink beer.

Below: Matthew Metz's intricately carved tea bowls and mugs.



Win Byers's serene and beautiful bowls. Surprisingly lightweight, endlessly useful.



Wisconsin potter Sarah Dudgeon traveled by limousine with her Wednesday-evening class.



Tea bowls by Guillermo Cuellar.



Photos by John Whiting.

Jason Trebs and Peter Jadoonath 5th Annual Pottery Sale

When: 3/29/08
Where: Back Alley Gallery, Lowertown St. Paul

Jason and Peter are among our favorite potters. We've been buying their pots for years. We returned from their 5th Annual Pottery Sale with a pitcher by each artist, a vase by Peter, and a bowl by Jason. All will get a lot of use.

Photos from the sale:





Why buy handmade pottery:
Trebs: “Because you can use it.”
Jadoonath: “It’s an approachable art form, and affordable.”

On pottery and relationship:
Trebs: “When something I make becomes part of someone’s personal space, that’s an intimate relationship.”
Jadoonath: “The idea of someone buying a cup I made, and touching it to their lips—that’s an intimate thing. You don’t buy a painting and kiss it.”

Photos by John Whiting. Top: Peter (left) and Jason. A table at the sale. One of Peter's creature pots.

More Pots

The 2007 Western Wisconsin Pottery Tour is now in its fourth year. We crossed the St. Croix toward Wisconsin's rolling and still green fields. Cows grazed, horses galloped, and creamy clouds dotted the sky. It was a perfect day for a drive in the country, where potters like to live, often at the end of bumpy dirt roads.

We began at the studio of University of Minnesota ceramics professor Mark Pharis and architect/potter Wayne Branum in Roberts, then went to see work by Jay Jensen, Wendy Olson, and guest Mike Helke from Minneapolis. From there we drove to Doug Johnson's place, a beautiful setting where the air smelled so sweet I briefly entertained the thought of moving to the country. (Pristine vistas, quiet, birds...bugs, isolation, no jazz clubs.) Next stop: Randy Johnston and Jan McKeachie Johnston, then the Victorian home and studio of S.C. Rolf in River Falls.

Rolf is one of the tour's organizers (with Willem Gebben, whose studio we didn't get to). We first met Rolf at the Uptown Art Fair five years ago, where we talked about tea bowls (yunomi) and he said something that informed how I've looked at pots ever since: For him, a tea bowl is a sketch. In conversation at his home, he said he takes tea bowls very seriously because they're so intimate; people cradle them in their hands and touch them to their lips. Rolf's guest was Winona potter Chuck Aydlett, who makes fantastic teapots.

We ended the day with dinner at Stone's, a modern restaurant in a historic building in Stillwater. If you go, try the creamed corn.

Photos by John Whiting. Top to bottom: Fire bricks and tea bowls at the studio of Mark Pharis and Wayne Branum. Ceramic yard art by Wendy Olson. Inside the anagama kiln at the Johnstons'.

• To get on the mailing list for next year's Western Wisconsin Pottery Tour, send an email to scrolf.potter1@sbcglobal.net.
• To get on the mailing list for next year's Minnesota Potters' Tour (the big one, held on Mother's Day Weekend), send an email to potters@minnesotapotters.com.

Pots

Potter Robert Briscoe is having his fall studio sale at his home in the woods in Harris, with guest potter Jason Trebs. Bob is part of the annual St. Croix Valley Potters' Tour, which draws fans and collectors from across the US every Mother's Day weekend. The fall sale is smaller, more relaxed and social. The beer is cold and the food is excellent; weather permitting, Bob builds a roaring campfire and people gather around. Friends come and stay late. On Friday, someone brought a guitar; at least three people there could play, so the guitar got passed around and for while at dusk and into the night, we sang or listened or sang along while the fire blazed and sparked and Bob gave it the occasional kick to keep it in shape. After dark, people wandered the grounds looking at pots with flashlights.

The first piece of pottery I ever bought was one of Bob's bowls. That was 20 years ago, and I still like it.

Photos, top to bottom: Calla lily in a tall pot by Jason Trebs. Bob wearing his red "I Still Make Mudpies" shirt. Pots for sale.