Karin Kraemer - Duluth Pottery, Superior Division

Karin Kraemer is expertly pulling slick bands resembling wet lengths of Charleston Chew between her fingers.

“I’m making new mugs and handles,” she explains.

Fresh off a successful show at the Park Point Art Fair, her supply of said items has dropped perilously low.

There are rows of handle-less mugs on the table in front of me. The unfired clay vessels are ribbed with the familiar grooves of the potter’s wheel and the artist’s hands. Nearly every corner of the studio houses boxes of “Continental Clay”— the elemental flesh of Kraemer’s creations.

As the owner of Duluth Pottery- Superior Division, Kraemer is on-site from

“about seven a.m. until seven or eight p.m.“

You don’t sense that she’s complaining about her lengthy days, though. This is a woman whose hours are full—of aspirations, friends, and, of course, the brown bendy stuff.

Kraemer’s business has been in the same spot in the Historic Trade and Commerce Building in Superior for eight years. It’s an aromatic journey through the building to the studio, which lies past the intoxicating, yeasty scent of Sustenance Artisan Bread, down some stairs, and across from the nostril-taunting richness of the Red Mug coffee shop.

“[The gallery] is community-run. It was started by artists who worked in the building. We started showing work here [in the studio], and then filled up the rest of the building.”

Indeed, artifacts of the local arts community are everywhere. Work that would’ve once found a home in the studio has spilled out the doors, into the hallways. Red Mug has regular showings, as well. The building and the studio have provided a perfect home for Kraemer.

Karin and her husband moved to the area eleven years ago, but only after spending twenty years looking for work that would allow them to locate here.

“I was fresh out of grad school and I didn’t really know what to do… My friend Bob Husby told me to try an art fair.”

She still does fairs, locally and nationally, but Kraemer’s ventures have expanded to placing her work in shops and galleries and doing custom tile work.

“It’s important to keep things diverse.”

Three years ago Karin and other members of the local arts community founded the North End Arts Council, a non-profit organization dedicated to nurturing support of the arts and elevating their role in the greater community.

“There’s a lot going on with the group,” she tells me.

Nevertheless, coordinating the efforts of all the willing hands within the local arts community is no small endeavor.

“We’re like one big mind. We’ve had a lot of ideas, now we just have to get together and do it, and quit talking about it.”

Arts education is at the forefront of Kraemer’s mind.

“We need to improve general education about things; the way to get support for the arts isn’t just to celebrate them—it’s a hell of a lot more.”

Looking at the next decade in the area, she sees a lot of potential to make that “more” happen.

“We need to market [the Twin Ports] as a cultural place… There’s an explosion happening here.

“There are changes happening in agriculture. We’re producing our own foods. That goes hand-in-hand with what’s going on with the arts, locally.”

Along with the increasing degree of self-sufficiency and development in the region, Karin sees a shift in our local identity.

“We’ve had a very deep base of history, with shipping, production, and our large seaport, and we’ve seen a lot of hard times here. I think our community is a lot stronger than it was ten years ago… We’re citizens, not consumers.”

In the years to come, Kraemer says, “If you put the [Duluth-Superior] area into Google, it should come back that this is where the arts and music are going on.”

So what advice would she give someone thinking about relocating to the area? Do it!

“There are so many opportunities for recreation, it’s unbelievable… It’s just a really pleasant place. If you want a life, this would be a great place to live.”

Amid glistening, hand-painted bowls and clay-dust flecked horizontal surfaces, Kraemer is clearly in her element, as she is in the broader Northland. She has a vision of her community that’s as inspiring as those that fuel her art.

“Communities kind of breathe,” she says, “I think we’re on a big inhale.”

Added on July 8, 2009