A Guide to Minnesota’s Ceramics Scene, Including Shops, Artists and Classes
As a new arrival in Minnesota, I was surprised by several things: the lack of an “i” in Jucy Lucy, the willingness of Vikings fans to wear fake blond hair under plastic horns, and the powerful prevalence of pottery.
Maybe because I lived near the Northern Clay Center, the Upper Midwest’s ceramics epicenter. Before long, I was at every NCC opening to marvel at the craft and witness potter greats like Richard Bresnahan, Warren MacKenzie and Joan Mondale cause ripples among clay fans.
Let’s start with a few essential biographies:
Richard Bresnahan
Richard Bresnahan completed an apprenticeship in ceramics with a Living National Treasure family in Karatsu, Japan, earning the designation Master Potter. In 1979, he returned to the U.S. to establish Saint John’s Pottery in Collegeville, Minnesota, where he is director and artist-in-residence of Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict. His handmade, functional, wood-fired work can be found in such collections as the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Idemitsu Museum of Arts in Tokyo.
Warren MacKenzie
A professor of pottery at the University of Minnesota, American craft potter Warren MacKenzie made functional wheel-thrown pots. Influenced by the aesthetic of Shoji Hamada and Korean ceramics, he is credited with bringing the Japanese Mingei — a term for folk craft — style of pottery to Minnesota, nicknamed the “Mingei-sota style.” MacKenzie’s wares are collected in museums nationwide and found in many Minnesota cupboards.
Committed to keeping pottery affordable, he refused to exploit his celebrity. To wit: His studio near Stillwater employed the honor system, with a handwritten request to purchase only one of his works; you would drop your cash in a basket and leave with a treasure.
Joan Mondale
A student of MacKenzie’s, Joan Mondale was a potter and outspoken arts advocate, earning her the nickname “Joan of Art.” When her husband, Vice President Walter Mondale, was named ambassador to Japan, she became an avid Japanese art and aesthetics student, using clay as her medium. She returned to Stillwater each summer during her three-year residency in Japan to craft her own pottery, which she presented to Japanese officials on ceremonial occasions.
These famous potters — and many, many more — have created a wellspring for ceramics in Minnesota. Depending on your interest level and willingness to get your hands dirty, there are multiple ways to access this art form, starting with classes, collections, events, and retail stores.
Classes
Fired Up Studios
Golden Valley
Since 1998, Fired Up has offered studio and firing memberships and classes. A members’ gallery and annual holiday open house mingle the jingle with fun. Its mission? For customers to have fun and leave in a better mood than when they arrived.
Minnetonka Center for the Arts
Wayzata
This suburban art center believes the visual arts are indispensable to a healthy community and offers year-round ceramic classes from beginning to advanced levels. A well-equipped ceramic studio with cone-10 reduction and atmospheric firings is available. The center also has a large gallery space and a sales gallery featuring ceramics.
Northern Clay Center
Minneapolis
Ground zero for Minnesota ceramics, Northern Clay offers year-round community classes and events, artist demonstrations, workshops, exhibitions, and a superb gallery. It also hosts the American Pottery Festival each fall, a deep dive into the art form.
For artists wanting to take the next step in ceramics education, it runs MN NICE (Minnesota New Institute for Ceramic Education), an advanced certificate program providing personalized instruction.
Pigs Eye Pottery
St. Paul
Operated by potter Jason Kaping at Great River Gallery, Pigs Eye hosts pottery classes, open studios, team-building activities, and private parties.
The Workshop
Minneapolis
A woman-owned and queer-operated pottery community in the Nokomis East neighborhood, this pottery studio is welcoming and accessible to all folks, from beginners to beyond. It features two studios for appointments and classes, plus five electric kilns, one reduction gas kiln, more than 15 electric Brent pottery wheels, studio glazes, and tools.
Collections
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Minneapolis
This free museum holds works by Bresnahan, MacKenzie, and Mondale, though they won’t necessarily be on view. Still, if you stroll the galleries, you’ll get a global clay education, with mind-blowing examples of Native, African, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese ceramics. Retired professors Michael and Tamara Root even had their loving collection of local and international ceramics highlighted at a special exhibition in 2023 and 2024.
Mia’s website is searchable, too, so you can always explore more at home.
Minnesota Museum of American Art
St. Paul
Located in downtown St. Paul, this free museum features a choice selection of pots: MacKenzie, Shoji Hamada, Pueblo potter Maria Martinez, Rose Cabot, and more.
Weisman Art Museum
Minneapolis
Located on the U of M campus, WAM holds a rich collection of ceramics featuring around 2,000 objects across various eras, geographic locations, cultures, and styles, including a collection of Upper Midwest studio pottery. You’ll find all the clay greats here. Also, free.
Events
American Pottery Festival
Minneapolis
Over a quarter-century strong, the American Pottery Festival brings together ceramic artists from across the United States each autumn, showcasing the best in the field. The weekend offers opportunities to connect with artists through talks, workshops, demonstrations, and casual gallery chats. You’ll experience a stunning variety of creative processes, techniques, forms, and surfaces. Proceeds advance the ceramic arts through education, exhibitions, scholarships, and grant programs.
The Saint John’s Pottery
Collegeville
Located on the Saint John’s University campus, The Saint John’s Pottery integrates aesthetic, scientific, humanistic, and moral approaches to eco-mutual living in relation to nature. Founded by Richard Bresnahan in 1979, the pottery program operates a wood-burning Japanese-style kiln — named Johanna after Bresnahan’s mentor, S. Johanna Becker — which uses ancient Pacific Rim pottery methods and local clay and glaze from ash to create glorious greenware.
The process of firing, which takes place every other year or so, is no mean feat. It includes seven weeks to load the kiln, 10 days of firing, two weeks of cooling, a week of unloading, and nine months of cleaning. An effort that involves some 300 people, the firing is a community-building event with many volunteers returning year after year.
St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour
Now over 30 years old, this pottery crawl attracts enthusiasts every May to seven working studios scattered along the picturesque valley north of St. Paul. You can meet the potters who make the mug that holds your coffee every morning. What could be better?
Shops
Clay Squared to Infinity
Minneapolis
A Northeast Minneapolis handmade tile shop and studio that offers a gallery, classes, and even an Airbnb experience. Some of the area’s best tiles and ceramic house numbers come from here.
The Grand Hand Gallery
St. Paul
This locally owned art gallery specializes in fine American craft and fine art, focusing on artists from Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. You’ll find the wonderfully wobbly works of Monica Rudquist and many other potters.
Northern Clay Center
Minneapolis
There was a period when every time I walked past Northern Clay, I would buy something. Then the pantry shelf holding all our pottery split in half — crash!
A gallery and sales room of contemporary and professional ceramics make a clay lover’s day. Also cool: A program called ReCollect, where you can donate your used goods to raise money for working ceramists. (While researching this blurb, I bought a new used cup perfect for smoothies.)
Read more about Minnesota's top museums and galleries.
