On view: July 28 – August 23, 2026
Sales Gallery & Online
Sam Chung, Guillermo Cuellar, S.C. Rolf, Ted Saupe
Jewelry Spotlight: Heather Nameth Bren
August Featured Artists: Sam Chung, Guillermo Cuellar, S.C. Rolf, Ted Saupe
Jewelry Spotlight: Heather Nameth Bren
About the Artists
Sam Chung
Tempe, Arizona
Sam Chung received his BA from St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN) and his MFA from Arizona State University (Tempe). Having taught at Northern Michigan University (Marquette), he is currently an associate professor of ceramics at Arizona State University. His work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. Chung’s work is also included in the collections of the Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, CA), Icheon World Ceramic Center (Korea), Guldagergaard (Skælskør, Denmark), and San Angelo Museum (Texas). Most recently, his work draws influence from Korean art. Chung explains that his use of the ubiquitous symbol of the cloud, often depicted in Korean design, reflects his own floating sense of identity. He says, “These cultural references are intended to serve as an anchor to point towards my own ethnic lineage, but also question my perception of belonging within our outside of it.”
Guillermo Cuellar
Shafer, Minnesota
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.
S.C. Rolf
River Falls, Wisconsin
S.C. Rolf lives and works as a studio potter in River Falls, WI, creating one-of-a-kind functional pots. His work reflects an ongoing search to unite his ideas with the generosity and the intimacy that the functional pot offers. Rolf holds multiple degrees in art and exhibits his work nationally and internationally. Rolf has received a number of national and international awards. He lectures and teaches workshops throughout the country. His work has been included in numerous publications, museum collections, and best of all, many kitchen cupboards.
Ted Saupe
San Juan Capistrano, California
Ted Saupe received his MFA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1979. Currently, he teaches at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia (Athens). Saupe uses both 2D and 3D components to create objects that reflect his musings on history, the unconscious mind, and past relationships. Saupe handbuilds his porcelain cups, boxes, and architectural forms. The surfaces are unrefined, a match for his graffiti-like imagery.
Heather Nameth Bren
Lauderdale, Minnesota
Heather Nameth Bren received a Masters of Fine Arts in ceramics from the University of Kansas (Lawrence) in 2003. Since then, she has received grants through the Jerome and McKnight Foundations and has been noted as an emerging artist by Ceramics Monthly. She is a 2013 recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant to research Delft tiles. Her creative practice and ceramic exploration are diverse, including ceramic jewelry, installation, functional ware, and her most current “tile paintings.” Bren’s tile paintings explore the relationship of inner trauma to external environments and conditions. In contrast, Bren’s “uncentered centering cups” encourage and affirm the user with playful imagery, cheeky quips, and glitter glaze. In addition to her studio practice, Bren has been a professor of art since 2007. She is currently teaching at Bethel University (St. Paul, MN).