While driving the official Pottery Tour route, you’ll pass this great sculpture park on the side of the road between Conne & Guillermo’s studios. I’ve driven past it many times, but this year we finally decided to stop. We had pretty much “closed out” the Tour at Guillermo’s after playing with Delores Fortuna. The weather was great, the sun was slowly setting and we decided to take in even more art. So we stopped off at the Franconia Sculpture Park.

Of course, some of it is better than others. I’ve tried to capture some of my favorites. Trust me, there are a LOT more pieces out there. But my thought is that just because you throw a bunch of stuff together, and weld it in place, doesn’t necessarily make it “ART.” Some times I wonder if I just don’t get it?! If there’s some  concept or message that I’m missing.But I know what I like… and these are a few of them.

This one is actually a boat filled with the large wooden balls. I was especially drawn to the textures & woodgrain of the balls… especially how they’re cracking and the way the shadows played against them.

Then there was this crazy playhouse. Yes, they encourage you to go up inside it. Stairs, slides, swings… and a LOT of colorful pieces all welded together. Kind of made me think of a whimsical take on an post-apocalyptic shelter. Enter Mad Max.

This one was pretty cool. It just looked like clear acrylic triangles arranged in the mulch bed. But as the sun continued to set, the prismatic surface of the pieces started to glow in a rainbow of colors.

I think this one was my favorite of them all… a great metal contraption of a Fibonacci Spiral. Not so bad that it’s all rusty either!!!

Oh… what to do with a bunch of logs???…

I loved the silhouette of this contraption. Again, they encouraged you to climb up inside of it. But it was really the strong silhouette and the really cool dot of blue glass glowing in the top center.

And speaking of rusty metal… another favorite. Basically it’s rebar & wire mesh.

I also loved this one – a combination of weathered wooden crates and classical columns. The balance and precariousness of it was pretty cool.

One last one on the horizon as we were leaving. It was a lot of “art” today – what with the Pottery Tour, Continental Clay, Northern Clay Center and now Franconia Sculpture Park!!!

For more information about Franconia Sculpture Park, click here for their website.

Well, since we had covered most of the Pottery Tour on Friday, we decided to head the other direction today. So we went down towards the Twin Cities to do a little more shopping. Not quite as much fun as buying pottery and meeting great potters… but still a great place to buy clay & supplies. While we were so close, I figured we should stop by for some clay, canvas and tools!

After that we went to Northern Clay Center to do a little looking around. We were greeted by a great girl at the front desk. She was exceedingly friendly & informative. She pretty much gave us a full tour right there from behind her front desk! I was equally impressed about how she encouraged us to not only shop the gallery space, but to also go back into the building to visit the other resident studio artists. And that they all have displays of their work for us to look at and purchase from as well. I think we need that kind of customer service at the font desk of Lillstreet?!… maybe then we’d actually get some people up to the second floor? Instead of just people looking for their birthday party location… or people saying “I never knew this was even up here!”

Next we swung by a friend’s home & studio in Minneapolis. Emily Murphy was one of my studio “neighbor” (and total instigator of me even starting this blog – yes, it’s all her fault) until she moved up to Minneapolis. We stopped by to visit, see her adorable daughter Ada, see her studio and pick up a box of pots that she wanted me to take back to the Lillstreet Gallery for her. Yep, so much better to save postage with hand-delivery!!! While there, she also mentioned that she had a lot of old glazes from her cone 10 soda firing days that she was looking to get rid of. And she thought of me! So the same buckets she moved from Lillstreet up to Minneapolis were now making the same trip back from Minneapolis down to my studio at Lillstreet.

After some time in Minneapolis, it was time to head up north to the Tour… well, kinda.
We made a trip to Taylors Falls, which is in between stops of the “official Tour” for a visit with the Rogue Potters. It’s a great group of potters who have pulled together in a small dilapidated farmouse with a wonderfully decrepit kiln shed. No kidding. It’s all kind of falling a part – but in a GREAT WAY. So charming & so quaint. And sure it doesn’t hurt that you’re immediately greeted by Buddy the golden lab who comes running right up to the car to say hello. So we did a little shopping and a little chatting with Randal and the rest of the Rogues. We also went back to the kiln shed to look at their wood fire kiln. So lovingly charred, crusted and well-used.

For more information about the Rogue Potters, click here for their website www.roguepotters.com or click on their LINK in the far right corner of my blog.

After our time with the Rogue Potters, we went back to the “official Tour” to re-visit a couple of our favorite studio locations. And to make more fun of my friend Steven Hill. But first, we decided to go to sculpture park that we’ve driven past for several years, but had never stopped.

These are not my normal style. If you’ve known me or read my blog for a few years, you should know that I’m drawn to rich, dark, saturated colors, textures, patterns and rusty-crusty things. So it kind of surprised my how much I loved the work of Karin Kraemer. She was part of the Tour last Spring as well, and I liked them then. But I wasn’t sure why. When I saw her again this time, I liked them once again. And now I know why. They just make me happy. Simple as that. And I got a chance to talk with Karin and she makes me happy too! Such great patterns, bright colors and such happiness in every pot.

If you’d like to see more of Karin Kraemer’s colorful majolica work, click here for her website www.duluthpottery.com or in the LINKS section of my blog in the far right column.

I’ve know Steven for several years now. And I’ve loved his glazed textures even longer.
When Steven moved from Kansas City to Sandwich, Illinois, my friend & incredible ceramic artist Cory McCrory introduced us. We ended up working together as I did a lot of graphic design work for him while he was opening up Center Street Clay. He has since moved on, and moved back to Kansas City, Missouri. It’s always so much fun to see Steven on the Minnesota Pottery Tour at Richard Vincent’s studio location. Not only does he bring a lot of gorgeous pots, but he’s also a lot of fun to talk with and make fun of!!! And if you ever run into him somewhere… remind him that he still owes me a bunch of dinnerware!!! I know I remind him EVERY time I see him. And frequently on his Facebook too!!!

For more information and details about Steven and his work, click on his website here www.stevenhillpottery.com or from the list of LINKS in the right side column of my blog.

Okay. So I’m a Matt Metz fan.
And I’ve got quite a collection growing of his work. I love his crisp sgraffito style, the geometric patterns, the natural themes of leaves, trees & birds, as well as the subtle colors and flashing from his firings. And for those who don’t know, sgraffito is a great technique where you paint a solid coat of colored slip on top of the lighter clay body (in this case porcelain). Then you painstakingly carve away portions of the colored slip to “reveal” the patterns. So in this case, the white sections have all been carved away… and if you look close enough, you can even see the little tool marks that made them!

Along with all of the wonderful pots on the Tour, it was also a beautiful Spring weekend.
With a little chill in the air there were great signs of Spring everywhere we went.

And some great milkweed pods bursting open to fee the seeds.

Springtime in Minnesota. It’s been a long time coming. A very long & cold Winter and a delayed Spring. So it was a a wonderful Spring day on the tour. Lots of pots with lots of flowers! And lots of vases fulfilling their destiny!!! So here’s a quick trip around the tour, studio by studio, with a wonderful assortment of potters with an assortment of flowers in vases!

Bob Briscoe’s studio… always the first stop of our Tour!
I think Bob Briscoe is wonderful host who has done so much for the Minnesota pottery community. He’s also gathered a great collection of some of my favorite potters like Matt Metz & Suze Lindsay!

Richard Vincent’s studio…

At Will Swanson’s studio…

Linda Christianson’s studio…

Jeff Oestreich’s studio… and with the huge plate glass windows in his studio, the vases & flowers turned into silhouettes!

Connie Mayeron’s studio… which let me just say, first off.. I love the barn!
And the rusty metal pieces that hold the ceramic vases and beautiful forsythia branches!

Guillermo Cuellar’s studio… our last stop of the day…

Here’s a parting question… So when you buy the vase, do you get to keep the flowers???

Let The Games Begin!
My parents and I got up early this morning to head out for the big pottery tour. Our first stop is always my favorite stop! It’s the furthest north and my favorite collection of pots & potters! So we always start at Bob Briscoe’s place, do a little shopping, a little chatting and a have a lot of fun before moving on to the other locations.

Picture thousands & thousands of wonderful pots made by some of the best potters all in one place. There are seven studio locations on the tour. Each of the host artists then invites other potters to share their space and their wares. In the end, there are fifty potters, quite a few white tents, and thousands & thousands of pots!!! All in one glorious pottery weekend!!!

For more information about the tour, click on St. Croix River Valley Pottery Tour.

It’s always great to see a sign like this on the road… a sign that great things are in store!
This great mailbox is on Pottery Trail… seriously, i’m not making that up... as you’re driving down the road to Jeff Oestreich’s studio!

After a busy week in Dover and the studio, we’re finally off to Minneapolis!
This weekend is the Minnesota Pottery Tour and we made it up north after a long, rainy drive. The tour starts tomorrow, but first, my parents and I stopped by my cousin’s place tonight for dinner and some great fun with their kids. Always fun to play with them… and to hear all the stories from their recent “Make-A-Wish” Trip to Hawaii. Yes, unfortunately, their youngest Christopher has been battling with cancer. He’s made it through his chemotherapy rounds like a trooper and is now “in the clear” and feeling so much better. So it was great fun to see him smiling & laughing… and playing with Uncle Gary!!!