Deep Mapping and Valley Pottery: 2,000 Years Opening Reception

VALLEY POTTERY: 2,000 YEARS The St. Croix valley is famous for its vibrant community of ceramic artists, but did you know that pottery traditions in the St Croix valley go back over 2,000 years?  Ed Fleming, archaeologist with the Science Museum of Minnesota, has been studying these ancient traditions and how pottery styles demonstrate trade and movement along the rivers of the Midwest.  “The St. Croix is this great north-south corridor that crosses biomes,” Fleming says. “It connects the north woods to the prairies.” Potters working here today created pieces inspired by the forms, decorations and stories they learned about during a recent visit to the Science Museum in St. Paul. 

DEEP MAPPING Explore the places and stories of the St. Croix River basin with multiple maps by St. Croix 360 founder and writer Greg Seitz. This exhibition and the work for his upcoming book (UMN Press, 2028) will look past the usual tropes of lumberjacks and settlers to the diverse peoples, ecosystems and communities that have created the watershed as we know it today. A Dakota language map by Marlena Myles showing Minneapolis (Village of Many Lakes) & St. Paul (Village along the White Cliffs) will also be featured.

EXHIBITION OPENING APRIL 2 / 6-8pm / ArtReach St. Croix, Stillwater

ON VIEW THRU MAY 9 / Wed & Fri, 10am-4pm; Thurs, 10am-7pm; Sat, 12-4pm / ArtReach St. Croix

This project was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov. NEA Big Read in the St. Croix Valley is also supported by the Human Family Unity Foundation.