Posted on 09 April 2019 by Calvin

Ian and his daughter complete the finishing touches on their garden lantern at last year’s hand building workshop. Front Avenue Pottery owner Mary Jo Schmith details another patrons lantern! (Photo provided)

Front Avenue Pottery, 895 Front Ave., is Firing It Up once again during the St. Paul Art Crawl, Apr. 26-28. The Como clay studio and its artist neighbors invite you to this exhibit, sale, and community art event.

Hours of the sale are Fri., Apr. 26, 5-10pm; Sat., Apr. 27, 10am-8pm; and Sun., Apr. 28, 11am-5pm.

Photo left: Art crawl patrons receive clay hand building tips from Laura Thyne (center), Front Avenue Pottery’s studio assistant. Hands-on activities have always been a part of Front Avenue Pottery’s tour activity. (Photo provided)

Once again this year there are lots of times to try your hands at the potter’s wheel, Fri. from 6-9pm, Sun. from 12-5pm, and Sun. from 12-4pm. There will be a clay hand building workshop between 12-5pm on Sat., and 12-4pm on Sun. Aprons provided! All events are free, and donations accepted to cover material and firing cost.

The studio will also display the works of multiple area artists:

• Mary Jo Schmith of Front Avenue Pottery, hosting. Schmith has been creating dinner and serving ware and clay tile commissions in her South Como Studio for 25 years. Her playfully decorative pots are functional, with drawings celebrating the cycles of nature that surround us in our daily lives.

• Brett Monahan of Brett Monahan Pottery is a functional potter working in NE Minneapolis making lively porcelain and stoneware pottery with luscious, smooth buttery glaze surfaces. His coffee pour over cones is amazing. It’s rumored he may make some planters for this spring show! Photo right: Trying her hands at the potter’s wheel, Iris Mirski is assisted by Brett Monahan of Brett Monahan Pottery. (Photo provided)

• Jenny Levernier of JMML Designs creates sterling silver and stone jewelry. Lever­nier loves the history found in the pattern of every stone and the story it tells. Her work focuses on color and pattern, with the quality of workmanship as the real star. She is a highly skilled metalsmith.

• Marit Lee Kucera for M’Art Designs is a fiber artist not only creating wearable art but also designing and dyeing her own yardage for herself and other fiber artists. Her garments and fabrics are found on six continents! What fabric creations will she bring to this year’s art crawl? Her screen-printed designs, totes or her beautiful scarves?

• Ryan Ball of Ryan Ball Pottery is a functional potter living and working in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood. You may remember Ball’s work for it’s beautiful, vibrant, shiny, fluid glazes adorning his functional cups, bowls, vases. Anyone would love one of his Olive Oil Jars or stunning cups.

• Steve and Linden Wicklund of Wicklund Ceramics are two successful and skilled clay artists now working as a team. Both typically functional potter’s, they excel in their skill with porcelain, altered functional serving ware, fluid slip or fun and funky glaze decoration.

• Marc Johnson-Pencook of Illustrator Marc is a pen and ink illustration artist. Marc’s intricate drawings will keep you occupied for hours, each inch of the drawing full of information. He shares his drawings in limited edition prints, originals, and as wearable t-shirt art.

• Kristi Casey of Kristi Casey Design creates small architectural home vignettes, bursting out with history, age, and wisdom. Using your images and found objects, she creates for you a downsized architectural version of your home and memories.

• Anna Clare Tiller of Anna Clare Pottery is a clay artist. Her functional soda-fired stoneware pottery is alive with surface decorations and altered shapes and rims. She specializes in mugs, bowls, and serving ware.

• Alana Hawley of Alana Hawley Art is an amazing portrait artist who will draw your portrait on site during the show. Her illustrations are full of life. Earning her undergraduate and masters degrees from the University of Minnesota in studio art and art education, she is currently feeding her wanderlust by learning to speak Finnish as quickly as possible. Bring a Finnish word or two to the crawl to test her new language skills.

Photo left: Nine artists will exhibit and sell artwork at Front Avenue Pottery during the Spring St. Paul Art Crawl, including pottery, jewelry, wearable fiber art, drawings, and portrait sketches. (Photo provided)