Inspired by the Saori philosophy of “weave from your heart,” my work can be all over the place: calm and controlled to quite energetic and carefree. Just depends on the day! Woven scarves can be used on your shoulders, table or wall and reflect a joy in experimenting with color and texture that often results in unexpected design elements!

Almost any day of the week you can find me at my torch blowing glass ornaments. When I work I love using non-traditional colors and, because there are endless combinations and outcomes, the process always keeps my interest. After more than 15 years I still find that there is so much to learn and to improve on - I still feel like I am just beginning.

Please visit facebook.com/cathycollisonornaments to see my latest!

My slab-built low-fire clay vessels and boxes are part of a continuing experiment in creating simple objects that have a timeless look; both ancient and modern. I am interested in revealing texture and color in multiple layers with a dry and matte glazed surfaces.

This adventure all started with my granddaughter’s request for a fairy house at Christmas.  I decided to create one for her from polymer clay.  Polymer clay is a new medium for me and requires no kiln as does conventional clay.  You bake your creation in a toaster oven and after a number of minutes, it is hard.  The fairy house was a hit and I decided to explore other houses.

Each polymer clay house is different and reflects the diversity of the families that occupy them.  I enjoy the tactical nature of the clay and exploring the three-dimensional aspect it offers that can be expressed in size, shape, and texture.  I have also branched out and explored making abstract wall hangings.

The toothpick assemblages can be whatever you want but the initial idea was to represent the diversity of mankind.  Each toothpick is individually painted and different from all the others.

I practiced dentistry for over 32 years and before that was an aerospace engineer.  Around retirement I dabbled in making glass lamp work beads for over a decade.  I enjoyed the spontaneous nature of the bead making process and gravitated toward the abstract and organic.  I enjoy the tactical nature of the clay and ability to create items in three dimensions.  I like to vary the size, shape, and texture of the buildings.  For years I worked in millimeters and here that restriction is removed.  Making an exact representation is not the goal.  My houses are caricatures.  The final millimeter of paint also intrigues me, adding an additional layer of individually to each house.  Enjoy.

Fieldstone Apiaries is a small family owned business between Northfield and Elko New Market.  Beekeeping has become a true passion for us and all that it encompasses over the years. Our hives are located in pasture, prairie and wooded areas where they can flourish in a natural environment, free of pesticides and other hazard.  Each hive location has a slightly different floral variation, which is harvested separately for you to enjoy.

As an architect and artist, I’m always looking for the large- and small-scale interrelationships of natural and man-made forms and structures. Out of recycled sterling silver, I make small, wearable sculptures based on the dynamic geometric and architectural shapes that surround me. The hoppers, chutes, bins and their supporting structures create vessels and conduits for the seasonal cycles of fuel, water and food – industrial extensions of the natural systems of streams, soils and plants that define the Minnesota rural environment in which I live. 

Juan Alejandro Fried Ortiz de Zarate is an architect and artist whose work reflects the diversity of his ancestry, his urban experiences, and a new home in the countryside. Juan studied art history and architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Minnesota. As an architect and urban designer, he completed award-winning designs for public agencies and community groups. As an emerging artist, he continues his study of form, space, and materials on a more intimate scale. He started forging and fusing his geometric, architectonic work in the winter of 2014.  He is a member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths and the Minnesota Jewelry Arts Guild (where he is currently a board member.)

Photography, an interest since childhood, has re-emerged as a growth area in midlife. Landscapes, nature, architecture, and some portraitures are favorite subjects.  I'm currently creating impressionistic photography using iPhone apps and other technology magic.  Taking a familiar image and coaxing an eyebrow to raise, or an emotion to emerge, is the fun, and the goal, of all I do.  

https://agingschmaging.com

https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/gail-gates

Your cats are bored and lethargic. I'm here to make their lives better with handcrafted, catnip-stuffed toys that are guaranteed to please. Available in a variety of colorful cotton patterns and shapes. Don't forget your friends' pets when planning your holiday giving!

Whether searching through the piles of brush at the Northfield yard waste site or collecting wood salvaged from storms or disease,  I have the honor to reveal the warmth and beauty in my pieces from wood often destined to be firewood. Pick up my work and feel its comfort.

I have also been gifted dusty piles of wood recovered from a customer’s grandfather’s barn or a friend’s storm-recovered wood stored since 2007 in a pole barn…thus sourced, the last few years my display shelves were live-edged maple boards and very heavy to transport and set up…I repurposed those five shelves into 35 spatulas and 15 scrapers.

Having dived deep into this craft since retiring in 2016, I am researching new finishes (even some vegan-friendly options) and designing new pieces like big treasure boxes and un-turned candle holders that even further reduce the amount of wood lost to chips.

While fishing and making music do cut into my shop time on occasion, the bags of mistakes I make regularly can easily heat the shop during the long winter months.

We are a husband wife team and have been making pots together since 1976.  Our home and studio are located in the beautiful countryside east of Northfield.

Our work combines the love of creating pots with beautiful form / function with the joy of creating whimsical imagery for each pot. . Our pots are carefully made on the potter’s wheel and then are individually hand painted with our original pictures using underglazes ( clay based ceramic colors}.

Our goal is to make pottery that is sophisticated in form and fun!  We also highly value being able to work together as a team.

I create unique and limited edition jewelry from my home studio in Northfield, MN.  I allow the materials, whether they are glass, stone, recycled, or found to guide my designs. It is not only the jewelry components that inspire me, but the process by which I connect them together. I find gratification in combining unexpected elements, and strive to create meaningful, beautiful jewelry to be worn every day. 

Glynnis Lessing began a lifelong love of ceramics at 9 when she learned to throw from a Japanese potter at Carleton College. She made pots in high school, and worked for a potter and went on to study art at Macalester and the University of Minnesota where she earned her BFA.

Directly after college, a move to Chicago led her to Lill Street studios where she began working & teaching pottery as well as at several other institutions; marrying and raising a family along the way.

In 2008, she started participating in shows and art fairs on a full-time basis; eventually moving back to Minnesota in 2012 where she began teaching at the Northern Clay Center. She continues to work full time as a potter creating, with 9 fellow Northfield potters, the Cannon River Clay Tour, now in its 5th year!

Her studio is in her grandfather's old milking parlor on the ancestral farm where she lives with her family; surrounded by their small flock of chickens, the trees her grandfather planted and the fertile earth.

Ann Poulson has been working with fiber since high school.  She started out making many of her own clothes and along the way she became interested in quilting.  She has been making wall hangings ever since.  Her interest in felting began in 2008 when she took her first wet felting class.  Ann makes felted jewelry, vessels, pins and wall hangings.  She has also included needle felted items in her list of works.  She has been teaching adult classes since the late 1990's.  Ann has taught classes in sewing, embellishing, painting on fabric, and felting.  

I have always lived in a world of daydreams and imagination. My work is a window into that world. I encourage you to please come dream with me! I love to play with silver and stones and fire. The end result is hopefully a beautiful piece of unique jewelry that brings compliments and joy to the person wearing it.   

https://www.facebook.com/fleurdelisgallerymn/

Texture, shape and color all tell a story. I hope my work will be interesting to look at, but also to touch. Whether a piece is intended to be useful or decorative, funny or evocative, it should be relatable and touchable.  Art helps us process and express thoughts and feelings and build universal connections, that’s my mission and my focus.

A lifetime resident of Minnesota, I currently reside with my boyfriend, dogs and cats in South Central Minnesota. My two sons are full grown and on their own but still keep me entertained.

I create ceramic works to be enjoyed with food, displayed in the home, or tucked into a serene garden.

I fell in love with ceramics 30+ years ago, when on a whim I took the first class ever offered at the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis. Fifteen years later I transitioned from a career in graphic design to full-time ceramic artist, living and working in rural southern Dakota County.

From the beginning I have pursued a non-traditional approach to ceramics learning. I have worked with accomplished artists through coursework, intensive workshops and informal mentorships. I feel fortunate to work in a region rich with an abundance of talented ceramic artists – benefitting from their generosity, camaraderie and inspiration. In 2009, I founded Minnesota Women Ceramic Artists (MNWCA), an organization dedicated to providing support and opportunities to women ceramic artists throughout their careers.

My work celebrates the historic ceramic tradition of employing decorative botanical themes, while making an intimate connection to my rural surroundings. The raw piece serves as a canvas to build imagery, layers, textures and color. Firing my work in atmospheric kilns adds an element of surprise, challenging me and ensuring that each piece is lively and unique.

Since as early as he can remember, Noah has been creating imaginary worlds full of whimsical characters and storylines. Those creations still impact Noah today as he paints, draws, and salvages all sorts of wood, metal, and cloth. As new stories develop, Noah’s hope is that others will be able to enter into and experience his created world through the full variety of his work and style.

Juliane is a ceramic artist from Northfield, Minnesota. She received her MFA from Bowling Green State University and has taught at Carleton College as well as The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. Juliane’s work has been included in the 2019 “Blanc de Chine” International Ceramic Art Award exhibition in Beijing, China. She was the recipient of the Tile Heritage Prix Primo award at the 23rd Annual San Angelo National Ceramic Competition and received first place in the 62nd Arrowhead Regional Biennial.

Shibata was awarded a 2021 McKnight Artist Fellowship for Ceramic Artists Award and Artist Initiative grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board in 2014, 2018, and 2020. In 2016, she was a co-curator of Michi – Distinctive Paths, Shared Affinity: An Exhibition of Japanese American Ceramic Artists, which traveled across the U.S. Her work belongs to the permanent collection of Northern Arizona University’s Art Museum and the Brown-Forman Collection.

Andrea Turini Jewelry is a local designer who creates classically elegant beaded statement jewelry that is comfortable and easy to wear. She balances bold colors with unique contrasts to create pieces that seamlessly transition between seasons and styles. Her designs use the highest quality Japanese seed beads and Swarovski crystals. "They are unique and timeless pieces that coordinate and compliment your outfit, mood and lifestyle. I hope you enjoy wearing them as much as I do making them."

After wandering through engineering, sociology, anthropology, motherhood and technical writing, I finally found my true calling in the mid-1990s, when I first got my hands in real clay. I loved the idea that you could start with earth and water, air and fire, and end up with dishes. I took classes at Northern Clay Center, then did an informal apprenticeship with Richard Bresnahan, at the St. John's University Pottery. We moved to the Northfield area in 2004, building a house 6 miles south of town, so that I could build a wood-fired kiln (3rd version finally complete, has been fired seven times).  Most of my work, however, has always been glazed, and then fired in a propane kiln. I make high-fired stoneware for its strength and durability, and glaze with a palette of colors that do not depend on toxic compounds. I make things for every-day use that I hope will delight the user whenever they are picked up.

After more than 30 years learning the art of woodcarving, I find that my favorite subjects are realistic animals and birds, human faces, and chip carved items.  My preferred carving woods are native Minnesota butternut and basswood. 

About 10 years ago, I began pursuing a long-held interest in woodturning and found a new outlet for my creativity.  I often use wood from local, storm damaged trees or those that are removed from a yard.  It is very gratifying to transform something that would have been discarded into something useful that pleases the eye.  Most of my turnings are meant to be functional and used in everyday life; thus they are all completed using food-safe finishes.

Woodcarving and woodturning have changed how I relate to things in everyday life.  I now observe and perceive things instead of just “seeing” them.  The differences in people’s facial features or the individual differences in a species of an animal or bird provide creative inspiration.  I look for forms and proportions in objects, trying to determine why they are pleasing to the eye.
As I create a new piece, I enjoy seeing the beauty of the wood grain emerge and how light plays off of each surface to enhance the object as it progresses to its final form.  I find that my carving and turning sessions are a great way to turn 15 minutes into 3 hours.  Working with wood creates a certain Zen that I find in no other activity.

I have always loved making beautiful things. At a young age I began to create art, mostly cross-stitch, embroidery and needlepoint pictures.

As a child my family went camping, then purchased land and built a cabin in Northern Minnesota; it was then that I began my fascination with nature and rocks. I remember taking off and wandering the banks of the lake, collecting beautiful rocks as I went.

In the year 1998 I saw a necklace (made with stone and glass beads accented with silver findings) in a magazine that I just had to have, well one almost like it, I knew there were things that I’d change. Having spent years doing some kind of craftwork I decided to try to make it myself.

I collected rock and glass beads, silver findings and all else needed to complete the project. I loved the process so much that I knew I had to make more. And I did. My second attempt was a gift, almost like mine, but with a twist. I gave it to her, everyone was envious and I was hooked, I had to make more!

In 2004 I decided to take my journey one step further and I started Jewelers School. There I learned the magic of casting, designing and creating of metal jewelry. I found that I love designing wonderful jewelry that myself and others can wear and enjoy. It thrills me to see one of my ideas go from a thought, to a sketch, then finally into a finished piece of wearable Art.

In 2016 I took a class on making Sami Inspired Jewelry. The Sami are the Indigenous peoples of Scandinavia, mostly known for being Reindeer herders. I knew I had found another style that I needed to embrace.
My business name, Cardinal Points Designs came from a search starting with “Rosslyn” from the Holy Grail Legend. I was using the thesaurus to find just the right word. And I find the term “Cardinal Points” This represents the “true” North-South-East-West directions, now I had it! This is what I want to create, pieces that aid in healing people on their journeys in life, whichever direction they choose.