The St. Croix Valley has a wild river and exceptional pottery at its core. As the recent video from the American Craft Council above describes, it is world-recognized as a region for skilled and creative potters. The pinnacle of the region’s pottery year comes every Mother’s Day weekend, with the annual St. Croix Valley Potters Tour.
Friday through Sunday, seven potters will open their studios to several guest potters and thousands of pottery groupies. Under spring skies, on rough wood tables, hundreds of ceramic objects will be on display and for sale. Food and drink and conversation will be readily available. The lilacs might be blooming.
This year there will be 47 guest potters from around the country. Tourists also visit from around the nation – one host potter reported visitors from 24 states during the 2012 tour. The studios are all located near the river in rural parts of Chisago County. The seven host sites are:
- Robert Briscoe’s picturesque, woodland home and studio
- Will Swanson and Janel Jacobson’s studio along the Sunrise River
- Richard Vincent’s oak-shaded backyard studio
- Linda Christianson’s distinctive studio and log home nestled in a clearing in the woods
- Jeff Oestreich’s early Minnesota farmstead remade into home and studio
- Connee Mayeron’s pottery gallery-in-a-barn just down the road from the Franconia Sculpture Park
- Guillermo Cuellar’s hilltop home and studio overlooking the St. Croix River
The studios are all open on Friday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. A map and more information is available on the tour’s website.
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This video was great! Thanks for producing it and interviewing some fantastic potters. I am one of the lucky ones who lives close enough to the tour where I can go to it every year. I too learn so much from the other artists and just soak up the work, the culture within the pots. It really is a great tour!