Toni Easterson’s studio, like many others, is in her house.

It has a southern exposure with lovely light pouring in through 3 big windows; what better place in the house to work? It is a very neat and organized studio with swathes of color hiding behind beautiful cupboard doors. 

Toni trained as a graphic artist- so many from her family, past and present, are artists.  She originally had a graphic design and advertising business  in Connecticut but one day went to an exhibit at the Textile Design Center in Minneapolis and fell in love with fabric.

She brings this graphic sensibility, as well as her rich life experiences- such as travel, living on the ocean, fishing with her father or  doing beadwork with her aunts -to her work.

What you see when you visit, is that she weaves her work figuratively and literally throughout her life; with beautiful things all around her and stories from her past.

Toni’s work is often about lives and stories. She loves old fabric and the stories known and unknown that go with them. She likes giving them “another life”.

What will she be selling at the studio tour: cards, wall art and a goodly amount of less usual fiber pieces like her quilt sculpture among other things.

She is excited about a new quilt sculpture she has made that has an armature in it can hold its shape in any way that one chooses to form it.

When  asked what inspires her, was it her heritage?  She said,  yes, but really, everything!

For more information on Toni’s work you can check out her web page: http://www.tonieasterson.com

It’s always fun to see other artists’ studios- that’s the philosophy behind the tour!

Where do people create? What inspires them and how have they arranged or adapted a space to work best for them?

Kip’s studio is upstairs in her house and is amazingly neat and tidy for a potter who works with a dark clay like Terra Cotta.

Kip does a lot of work with  stencils and has evolved from hand-cutting out reusable stencils from thin plastic to using a stencil cutting machine called a Silhouette Cameo which has given her a lot more flexibility in sizing and multiples. 

Kip’s work is about  her “interest in the intertwining and complicated connections between food production, transportation and energy use.” 

We see images of energy sources like windmills and power lines, tractors, trains and corn. 

Kip hopes that through daily use of her functional tableware and thus repeated viewings of these images, people will “Open dialogue with those who share their tables and explore how their own personal actions can influence our collective future”

Kip told me she doesn’t throw as much these days, preferring to handbuild her work  but you might guess at first that it is made on the wheel  because it is symmetrical and nicely finished. The benefit is that is very light and nice to handle.

This beautiful oval serving piece is “green” that means it is unfired and ready to be decorated.

Kip’s kiln is in her garage. 

And let’s not forget Gertie who will be so excited to see all of you on the Studio Tour! 

This is a link to a recent video she made about Terra Sigilata- the extremely smooth finish  she puts on the undecorated surfaces of her work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_1fhFL6zgw&feature=youtu.be

More information is available here at Kip’s website.

www.kipokrongly.com

Eight of our Studio Artour artists will be participating in the Art Fair this weekend (Sept. 7 & 8) down along the Cannon River behind the Northfield Arts Guild in Northfield, Minnesota

This is a wonderful art fair with the added attraction of being held during the Defeat of Jesse James Days in Northfield, Mn.   Along with great art you can eat fun food, go on rides,  and watch a reenactment of the bank robbery with horses and full costumes!

Participating artists include:

Patsy Dew -photography

Heather Lawrenz- Jewelry

Glynnis Lessing-Ceramics

Kathy Miller – Painting

Colleen Riley-Ceramics

Judy Saye-Willis -Jewelry

Tom Willis- Ceramics

Jennifer Wolcott -Metal

This is an easy way to preview some of our artists all in one place.

The art fair runs Saturday and Sunday starting at 10 am and ends at 5 pm.

More information on the Defeat of Jesse James Days can be found at http://www.djjd.org

The tour is back!

 Hey ArTour fans, planning has been underway to bring you another wonderful ArTour this fall.

We hope you are making plans to go back and see your favorite artists but also see who’s new!

Here are our New artists:

Toni Easterson- textiles

Joan Herzog- painting

Kip O’ krongly- ceramics

Glynnis lessing-ceramics

Diane McDonald-Painting

and Patricia Mazurkiewicz-painting.

Additionally, the brochure is going to change a little! It will offer a new layout with the  idea of a tour within a tour.

That is, if you want to only look for Ceramics, all the ceramic artists will be grouped together.  Are you just looking at Jewelry or for something for your wall? These artists will be easy to find  as there will be a map for each of these “big three” categories (Ceramics, Jewelry and 2-D which includes painting, prints, photography and other flat and wall art.

In the meantime, put the ArTour on your Calendar for October 19th and 20th. And watch for news of those select artists that have a special Friday evening preview in their studios!

Join us for the 9th annual Studio ArTour October 19 & 20, here are the artists you can see:

Thank you to Maryrose Gondeck for providing this beautiful black and white drawing. It is our iconic image for the 2013 Studio ArTour.  Interested in participating? The application is available here, and the deadline for applying is this Sunday, March 31st.

There’s a Christmas-like atmosphere about once a month out at the old Halling kiln.  We opened the cooled kiln yesterday to finally view our transformed pots.  Five days ago we put in our bisqued pots, which were covered in various glazes. Then, a few days later, after a day of turning that brick box into a veritable inferno, we open it up to find, voila — our finished, gleaming, colorful pots!

This October three local women potters collaborated on the filling and firing of the kiln: Barbara Zaveruha (functional stoneware), Juliane Shibata (sculptural and functional porcelain) and newcomer, Glynnis Lessing (functional porcelain decorated with slip).  Individually, none of us could make enough work in a month to fill this large kiln but by collaborating, sharing labor and costs, we are able to fire more frequently and reap the benefits of an age-old tradition of sharing and cooperation among potters.

Barbara Zaveruha, Juliane Shibata, and Glynnis Lessing

Each potter has a very different style of work but all fire to cone 10 reduction in a gas kiln (roughly 2350° Farenheit).  Other firing options typically use electricity or wood to heat the kiln.

Barbara admiring the kiln's work on her slab tray.

See the artwork in person on this weekend’s Studio ArTour. Barbara’s studio, Prairie Creek Pottery (stop #9), is located at 5873 145th St E in Northfield. Juliane’s pottery will be featured at the Froehle Ceramics studio (stop #3), 310 St. Olaf Ave. Glynnis promises to join us on the Tour next year!

A clay rabbit keeps watch over the burner, bringing good luck.

Tucked away in the hills of Sogn Valley is the studio of pastel painter and educator Becky Jokela (stop #13). Her intimately detailed landscapes capture the idyllic countryside surrounding her home and studio. Visiting artist Julie Arthur weaves graceful textiles (scarves, shawls, runners, rugs) using her own hand-spun yarns.

Visit Becky and Julie on the Studio ArTour this Saturday and Sunday.

Becky's studio

Becky in the studio

Becky usually paints outside, unless it's raining or she's working on a large painting.

Take the road to Faribault to see a number of artists including this duo who will display in Julie Fakler’s studio. (stop #10)

Deborah Johnson

Deborah Johnson transforms beautiful kimono silk remnants into colorful table runners. Her craft is Rozome or Japanese batik, which lends itself to a painterly style using brushes instead of the traditional tools associated with the process. In 2008 she traveled to Japan on a textile tour led by Betsy Sterling Benjamin, artist and author of the World of Rozome – Wax Resist Textiles of Japan. Inspired by Japanese Rozome artists she developed her own style and methods to create cloth to be enjoyed in the home or on the body.  When she’s not engaged in her art she works part-time as a labor-delivery nurse and recently finished the Medtronic TC 10 mile, an event of the Twin Cities Marathon.

Julie Fakler

Julie Fakler can’t resist a chubby cat, over-affectionate dog or protective donkey. She specializes in painting people’s pets and livestock, and is the artist who painted the Studio ArTour’s Rice County Cows featured on this year’s website (www.studioartour.com) and literature. An MCAD grad, she has been exhibiting in central and southern Minnnesota for many years and looks for ward to opening up her studio once a year on the Studio ArTour.

Additional artists in Faribault:

Paradise Center for the Arts (stop #12)

• Susan Klumb, jewelry, textiles
• Dianne Lockerby, ceramics
• Gail Kielmeyer, knitting
• Shona Brooks, painting, jewelry

Jim Pichner, Jim’s Stained Glass (stop #24)

Jody Hanscom, Majestic Murals, murals (stop #5)

The artists all be at work at Studio #2. You can watch and maybe even try your hand.

Ian Baldry

Ian Baldry is bringing her knitting machine so you can see how she gets those delicate patterns in the wristlets and the complex three dimensional stitching in her scarves.

Emily Haskell works in clay using the slab technique to build funky little houses and masks. She will also be demonstrating and might let you get your hands dirty. We have a restroom so you can clean up afterwards.

Emily Haskell

Heather Lawrenz

Heather Lawrenz will undoubtedly be making earrings and trying to keep up with demand for her recycled leather pieces. If you have a leather belt or purse you no longer need you can donate it to her material stash.

Then there are her twice recycled bottle cap earrings. She uses the parts left over from the Trinket Foundry, (studio #6), bottle cap flowers.  Talk about no waste!

Jennifer Wolcott

Jen Wolcott will have the twisting machine ready for you to twist your own grass sticks. You don’t get to weld the angle iron on the end but you can watch. If you ask nicely you can even try the plasma cutter, (adults only please).