On view: June 2 – 28, 2026
Sales Gallery & Online
Kevin Caufield, Leila Denecke, Delores Fortuna, Bianka Groves De La Cruz, Mike Helke, Kate Schroeder
Jewelry Spotlight: Maia Leppo
June Featured Artists: Kevin Caufield, Leila Denecke, Delores Fortuna, Bianka Groves De La Cruz, Mike Helke, Kate Schroeder
Jewelry Spotlight: Maia Leppo
About the Artists
Kevin Caufield
St. Paul, Minnesota
Kevin Caufield, whose work is collected nationally and internationally, has been a full-time artist and teacher for over 41 years. Caufield is known for functional porcelain and stoneware pottery, custom dinnerware, and his custom-designed restaurant tableware. He is a popular ceramic instructor for all levels of students, and teaches classes and workshops worldwide. Caufield apprenticed with the late Robert Eckels in the 1970s. Since then, he has been living and working in the Twin Cities. He opened his 1600 sq ft studio gallery in St. Paul (MN) in 2013.
Leila Denecke
Scandia, Minnesota
Leila Denecke received her MFA degree from Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge) after four years of study in Japan at the Tekisui Museum of Art and the Ceramic Art Research Institute. She is a 2013 recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant. In 2004, and again in 2008, she received the McKnight Artist Fellowship for Ceramic Artists. Denecke’s work ranges from small informal tea bowls to large freestanding sculpture and installations. She works in stoneware and porcelain and uses various atmospheric kilns, such as wood and soda.
Delores Fortuna
Galena, Illinois
Delores Fortuna began her life on a dairy farm in northern Wisconsin. At 14 months, she contracted polio, and after rehab, eight orthopedic operations, braces, and crutches, she overcame paralysis by age 16. When she was introduced to wheel throwing in college, Fortuna was able to physically understand the pleasures of moving without pain through her hands’ interaction with the spinning clay. She received her BFA and MFA in ceramics from the University of Chicago where she studied under Ruth Duckworth. She then went on to teach at Antioch University, St. Xavier University (Chicago), and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before retiring in 2015 to her own studio practice. She enjoys the scientific nature of ceramics and formulates her own porcelain clay body and glazes. Her work continues to involve the gestural movement she initially fell in love with. Through layering historical context, natural colors, and her experiences, Fortuna reimagines the staples of everyday use.
Bianka Groves De La Cruz
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Bianka Groves De La Cruz received her BFA from Corcoran College of Art & Design (Washington, DC). Her work is simple and calm; it is intended to add balance to a fast-paced world. There is a bold contrast between the white of the porcelain and the incised black lines but her sense of touch is very delicate. Groves De La Cruz uses an inlay process, which entails covering the piece in wax and drawing through it with razors or acupuncture needles to achieve a thin, constant line, painting the carved areas in black glaze, and wiping away anything that is not in the lines. This creates a tattoo-like effect on the clay. Her high-fire porcelain wares are polished after firing to create a satiny, soft touch, each piece revealing her hand at play.
Mike Helke
Stillwater, Minnesota
Mike Helke received his MFA in ceramic art from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, and his BFA from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. A former NCC studio artist, he currently maintains a studio in Stillwater, Minnesota. Helke received a Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant in 2008 and the Red Wing Collectors’ Society Foundation Award in 2006. He’s an assistant professor of art/ceramics at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, and has been a visiting artist, lecturer, juror, and workshop leader at clay centers and universities across the United States. In 2017 he received a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant, and he was featured in the January 2020 edition of Ceramics Monthly with a “Spotlight Interview.” About his work, Helke says, “Each piece physically and conceptually records an animate sensibility derived from my experiences. This record is the catalyst for a call-and-response relationship that exists between maker, object, and user.”
Kate Schroeder
Kansas City, Missouri
Kate Schroeder is a ceramicist and full time professional artist residing in Kansas City, MO. She earned a BFA in sculpture and ceramics from the University of Central Missouri (Warrensburg) and a MFA from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Schroeder’s work combines the emotional impact of collecting objects with the themes of nostalgia and joy. Before transitioning to a full time artist, Schroeder also spent nearly a decade as an educator. She has worked for universities, art institutes, and community colleges, including managing EPIC Clay Studio (Kansas City, KS); a non-profit organization that specializes in teaching art to people with disabilities.
Maia Leppo
Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania
Maia Leppo graduated from Tufts University (Medford, MA) in 2008 with a degree in biology and community health. She received training in jewelry and metals from various craft schools, including Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (Gatlinburg, TN), Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft (Columbia, NC), Penland School of Craft (Bakersville, NC), and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (Deer Isle, ME) and her MFA from State University of New York at New Paltz. She has participated in artist residencies at Arrowmont and Fallingwater (Fall Run, PA) and has taught around the country including Penland, Arrowmont, Pocosin, and Touchstone Center for Crafts (Farmington, PA). She currently works out of her studio in the Brewhouse Association on the south side of Pittsburgh (PA).