Saint Paul Art Crawl, Round Two: West 7th & Cathedral Hill

 

Alright sluggers, it's time for round two. Last weekend we took you to The Grand Hand and XIA Gallery & Café; this time around, we're plopping you down right in the thick of it: 7th Street West, where you'll find Great River Gallery, Friedli Gallery and Studio, and this weekend's motherlode, the Schmidt Artist Lofts.

There will also be some fun spots up on Cathedral Hill to check out this weekend too, so do your stretches, chase some chickens, and get ready to glove up for Saint Paul Art Crawl, Round Two. Ding ding:

Friday 6 – 9pm, Saturday 12 – 7pm, and Sunday 12 – 5pm

 

Great River Gallery

Let's start on 7th with Great River Gallery, 1163 7th St. W, where artists Jason Kaping, Jeralyn Victoria, Ross Nordquist, and Katie Johnson will be showcasing their work during the crawl weekend.

Expect to see a whimsical variety of paintings, drawings, prints, handmade jewelry, hand-carved wooden tables, and some fantastic ceramics from these two artists below:

 

Katie Johnson, @k_t___j

Photo by Maggie Sokoloski Ehresmann. Image courtesy of the artist.

 

"My making process focuses primarily on hand building with clay, by rolling coils and pinching layers together to create large vessels, everyday functional pots, and jewelry. Each piece is an intentional offering, rich with the touch and quality of handmade. Being fascinated with the objects we choose to collect and use in our daily living I’m inspired to make work that enhances these everyday experiences. Celebrating the earthy essence of clay I enjoy making work that is tactile, playful, and decadent to the eye. My new Spring collection will be available during the crawl weekend featuring fresh designs glazed with a glossy blush pink and satin white on terracotta for you and yours."

Katie will also be doing pottery wheel throwing demos from 2 – 3pm on Saturday, so be sure to stop in!

Photo by Maggie Sokoloski Ehresmann. Image courtesy of the artist.

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Pig's Eye Pottery, @pigseyepots

Image courtesy of the artist's website.

Great River's owner and manager Jason Kaping also makes and sells his own ceramic creations under the name Pig's Eye Pottery.

"My aim is to create functional ceramics and tableware to add handmade quality to our lives at my home studio in Western Wisconsin. I also host Minnesota’s highest rated Pottery Classes, Team Building Activities, and Private Pottery Parties in St. Paul at Great River Gallery."

Between these two and the other participating artists who'll be hanging out, Great River's a great place to ease into your crawl before you dive into the belly of Round Two's white whale. We're mixing metaphors here people, keep up!

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Schmidt Artist Lofts

Okay, time to take the plunge. Just up the street at 900 7th St. W, Schmidt Artist Lofts is the brewery-turned-live/work-space-turned-art-fair-for-the-weekend. Expect over 80 artists and makers tabling throughout the hallways and rooms in all kinds of media, along with a rooftop Open Palete live art extravaganza, the 43rd Annual Congressional Art Competition for high school students in Minnesota’s 4th District, cha-cha classes in the Dance Studio, and food trucks, ROK Bar, Buna Coffee in the lobby, and Five Watt Coffee in Keg & Case.

Lots to see and do and eat and drink and buy, so we pulled a handful of participants aside to see what they're bringing to the party:

 

Moz Rude, @mozpotz

Photo of the artist by Haley Friesen Photography (another Schmidt resident). Image courtesy of the artist.

"My work is a collection of porcelain vessels that are cataloging my exploration of the mystical and occult realms with intentions of unraveling truths within the enigma that cloaks the universe and human experience. Each piece is hand built and hand painted with slip, and fired to cone 10. I view my slow process as a meditation while I visually explore motifs that are inspired by the occult, mysticism, and illuminated/ alchemical manuscripts.

"What to expect at The Crawl? TONS of super cool art from our amazing community of artists! I will have two tables with work ranging from vases, lots of mugs, blates (bowl/plate combo type of form), small dessert plates, and a few platters! I will have some of my porcelain sculptures on display as well for your viewing pleasure. My work can also be found at Friedli Gallery on W 7th and The Argyle Zebra in their current exhibition, Collective ALCHEMY II. Lots of art to go around!"

Image courtesy of the artist.

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Anna Stark, @anna_stark_art

Image courtesy of the artist.

"I am a self-taught oil painting Perpich alumna, captivated by the intricacies of nature and the colors of pop culture. I aim to tap into the nostalgic, playful nature of our collective personality by documenting everyday objects that occupied our time and captured our imagination — from flowers and game controllers, to iconic candy and your favorite pop — all the cultural artifacts of our time."

Image courtesy of the artist.

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Erik Pearson, @erikpearsonart

Image courtesy of the artist.

“I am a storyteller, whether it’s through paintings, sculptures, murals, installations, or songs. I create each work of art as a glimpse into a character at a given moment in time. The color, composition, and contrast reflect my love of a theatrical setting, and play off some of my common subject matters of music, circus performers, and nautical themes. My goal is to create artwork that embraces multiple viewings allowing new discoveries and interpretations over time.”

Image courtesy of the artist.

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Sander Kolodziej, @sander_k_6

Sander Kolodziej, All Together, 2023. Water color and ink on paper, 18 x 24". Image courtesy of the artist.

"Sander Kolodziej is an artist based in Minneapolis Minnesota that uses watercolors and acrylic paints to create whimsical worlds inspired by microbiology and worlds we cannot see with the naked eye. His acrylic works also have an accessibility element to them as he allows those with a seeing disability to touch his texture-rich canvases so they can get a sense of the composition. When Sander is not painting he works with the nonprofit Art Buddies offering after-school arts programming for kids in public schools around the twin cities."

Image courtesy of the artist's website.

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And that's just a smattering, a taste, of what you can find at Schmidt this weekend. Give them a follow @schmidtartists to see who else you can seek out.

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Cathedral Hill

Alright, that was a lot. Don't take to your corner just yet, let's walk it off and get the rest of our steps in heading up Cathedral Hill, where there are two more locations (The Milligan Studio and Virginia Street Church) and a third a bit west, south of Summit (House of the HeART 2, an AirBnB-able group exhibition space where all the work is for sale). Here's a look inside one of the spots up the hill:

 

The Milligan Studio, 459 Selby Ave. 

The Milligan Studio, image courtesy of the artist.

Run by sculptor Alan Scott Milligan and sculptor, historian, and New York Times bestelling novelist Dr. Nicole Mary Milligan, PhD (writing as N.M. Kelby), "the award-winning Milligan Studio has worked closely with a wide variety of communities to create public art in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, and Paris. Distinguished graduates from Bath Spa University, one of Europe’s premier Visual Art Colleges, the two have received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Yaddo, Bush Foundation, PEN America, Jerome Foundation, both the Florida and Minnesota State Arts Board, and are part of the Arts@MSP Artist Roster, facilitated by the Minnesota Airport Foundation."

On Friday, join them from 6 – 10pm for their Opening Night Celebration with live music from Ireland's foremost fiddler & Neo-Trad composer Danny Diamond and a look at their latest public sculpture in progress.

Saturday, 12 – 8pm, will feature fresh hot caramel rolls from Selby Avenue's High Hat cafe, and a $5 gift certificate. Giveaway begins at noon, until supplies last.

And Sunday, 12 – 5pm, come grab a freshly made croissant while they last, and finish your weekend strong.

Model of Star/Light, companion piece to a 12 x 12' mural in vibrant art glass, a work in progress that will be revealed this weekend.Image courtesy of the artist.

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Wow, that was kind of a lot of really good work, right? I feel like Saint Paul is not really keeping up its end of the bargain to be the boring one; way off brand. Plus, there's a whole third weekend left to go, April 26 – 28. Take the standing eight count after this one, my friends, and get your strength back: we've still got Downtown and Lowertown and probably way too many boxing references left to go. Stay tuned for next week's installment! ◼︎ 

 

For a full line-up of venues, an interactive map, and a list of classes and performances, check out stpaulartcollective.org.

Pottery by Katie Johnson. Photo by Maggie Sokoloski Ehresmann. Image courtesy of the artist.

Banner image: A mug by Moz Rude. Image courtesy of the artist.