Keeping up with trends in home furnishings and retail is not just about going to the mall or strolling up and down St. Paul’s Grand Avenue to look at store windows. It is also about seeing what artists are doing in their craft, and noticing how their ideas begin to influence overall trends. To get a better feel for what local artists are doing, I braved the wind and rain on June 5 and headed to the upscale Edina Art Fair, in one of Minnesota’s top upscale neighborhoods.
While all the artisans at the fair had interesting and original treasures to be discovered, I was immediately drawn to The Potter’s House’s tent that was filled with beautiful, rustic-looking pottery pieces like bowls, vases, plates, and teapots. Sarah Dudgeon, the artist behind The Potter’s House, uses a wax-resist technique and various glazes to create natural designs that range anywhere from flower stems and little birdies to circle motifs and spirals.
This selection of pieces is just a sampling of Sarah’s total offering, but it represented a wide range of neutralized hues that fellow trend intern Amber Salzi and I have been tracking in emerging apparel and décor products. The rich Browns, Tans, Greens, and Yellows create a great palate in mix-and-match pieces – a Golden-Yellow teapot would pair perfectly with Teal and Tan teacups…the options are endless! To see what else Sarah has created, head to her website at www.dudgeonpottery.com. I know I’ll be back at her tent at the Uptown Art Fair August 6, 7, and 8!
Louise Harris’s Relief Circle artwork was not only eye-catching, it also came with a great back story that made her pieces that much more impressive. The circles are made from recycled-metal scraps that originate in Mexico. The metal is originally used for making bottle caps – circles are punched from sheets of metal leaving scraps behind that are then reused to make furnace filters. This process leaves more scraps that are then used to make stunning artwork. The final pieces of colored metal, layered and overlapping against a stark White back drop have a geometric and minimalist appeal. It is their simplicity that makes them so beautiful. To top it all off, profits from Relief Circle sales are donated to various non-profit organizations around the world. Louise has definitely taken the idea of reusing and recycling to a sophisticated new level. Check out her gallery at www.lhoriginals.com.
I’m a huge fan of handcrafted wooden furniture, but I was happily surprised to see some chairs and tables made from materials I had never really seen before at Stone 2 Furniture’s tent. This company begins with slabs of marbled and solid stone from locations across the U.S. They put them through rigorous finishing processes before assembling them into unique-and-functional tables and chairs that look like Mother Nature made them herself. Even though Stone 2 Furniture is based in Colorado, I definitely recommend looking over their offerings and reading more about their story at www.stone2furniture.com.
Below is a gallery of some great art at the Edina Art Fair, including pieces from Editorial Correspondent John Currie. In addition to his writing talents, John is an accomplished sculptor and painter, with works in private collections in the US, South America and Europe. Check out more of John’s work at www.fineart.currieworks.com.
John Currie's sculpture "Steadfast"; Stone2Furniture's natural materials
Top: Carved wood furniture pieces by Sean Ung. Bottom l-r: Art glass from Steve Palmer; Kiln worked glass from Lyn & Randy Sedlak