March 5 – March 31, 2024
Sales Gallery & Online
Guillermo Cuellar, Joe Singewald, David Swenson, Veronica Watkins
Jewelry Spotlight: Heather Nameth Bren
March Featured Artists: Guillermo Cuellar, Joe Singewald, David Swenson, Veronica Watkins
Jewelry Spotlight: Heather Nameth Bren
Pops of colors in the work of our March featured artists reminded us that winter is ending, and the spring equinox is just around the corner. Cuellar states, “Clay is infinitely receptive and expressive; it records the character of the maker, the circumstances of making and the use given to it. Exquisite beauty can be found in pots made for everyday use.” Singewald says, “While holding vessels that are hundreds of years old, I love imagining the unknown maker, the space the piece was created, the materials used and the world at that time.” Swenson’s incredibly detailed, hand-painted work is embellished with historical motifs, while maintaining an eclectic and modern aesthetic. As our world becomes more digital, Watkins holds to the commitment that beautiful handmade objects impact our existence. Bren’s jewelry is an electric take on the rainbow with organic forms and textures.
About the Artists
Guillermo Cuellar
Shafer, MN
Guillermo Cuellar, born in Venezuela, studied ceramics at Cornell College (Mt. Vernon, IA). He has been making utilitarian, wheel-thrown stoneware pots since 1980. For 25 years he ran a studio and held sales events at his home in Turgua, in the countryside southeast of Caracas. He was a founding member of Grupo Turgua, an association of like-minded Venezuelan artisans working to support quality, local handwork. In 1981, he worked as an assistant to Warren MacKenzie, who taught a workshop in Caracas. Here began a deep friendship and link to the vibrant pottery world in Minnesota. In 2005, he established a pottery studio in Shafer, Minnesota and now participates as one of seven host-studios on the annual St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour.
Joe Singewald
Cold Spring, MN
Joe Singewald grew up in northeast Iowa where he discovered handmade pottery. He first studied ceramics at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and received his MFA from Utah State University (Logan). His utilitarian vessels have been in multiple exhibitions throughout the country, including NCECA Clay National, Strictly Functional Pottery National, and Utilitarian Clay—Celebrate the Object. Singewald was a 2015 Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant recipient. Since 2014, he has been the art department studio technician for the College of Saint Benedict and St. John’s University (St. Joseph, MN). He lives and maintains a studio in Cold Spring, MN with his wife and three daughters.
David Swenson
Clearwater, MN
David Swenson is a Clearwater- and Minneapolis-based ceramist and instructor. Since moving to Minnesota in 2009, he has lived and worked in the Twin Cities area teaching ceramics in community education and many after-school programs. His hand-painted work is embellished with historical motifs and techniques, while maintaining an eclectic and modern aesthetic.
Veronica Watkins
Maryville, MO
Veronica Watkins grew up in the Kansas City, Missouri area. She received a BFA from Northwest Missouri State University (Maryville) in 1996 and an MFA from Southern Illinois University (Carbondale) in 2000. Watkins resides on a hilltop cattle ranch in Maryville where she takes care of her family, maintains a studio practice, and teaches as assistant professor of ceramics at Northwest Missouri State University. She has been a resident at The Clay Studio of Missoula (MT), Belger Crane Yard Studios (Kansas City, MO), and at Red Lodge Clay Center (MT). Her work has been exhibited in regional, national, and international exhibitions.
Jewelry Spotlight: Heather Nameth Bren
Lauderdale, MN
Heather Nameth Bren received an MFA in ceramics from the University of Kansas (Lawrence) in 2003. Since then, Bren has received grants through the Jerome and McKnight Foundations and has been recognized as a Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist. She is a 2013 recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant which funded her research on Delft tiles. Her creative practice and ceramic exploration are diverse, including ceramic jewelry, installation, functional ware, and her most recent “tile paintings.” In addition to her studio practice, Bren has been a professor of art since 2007.