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Chisago County history has been shaped by paths established here. The old military road that cuts through the east corner of the county, and connected forts on the rivers with outposts leading to Duluth, is one such route. Foot and wagon trails of brave immigrants and the communities that sprang up along them are another example.

Among the oldest trails shaping what Chisago county would become were migratory wildlife corridors luring the native residents who followed them.

Contemporary paths affecting the county would be the rail lines and interstate highway.

Somewhere in the mix, you’d find the pottery trail.

This corridor connecting a community of ceramic artists is widely known within the arts world. It becomes a pilgrammage for ceramics arts patrons this weekend during the annual studio tour.

Chisago county ceramic artists first pulled together an annual pottery tour 14 years ago.

The goal then was to help elevate ceramic arts within the entire Twin Cities region and create a reliable, welcoming event basically following the Highway 95 corridor, the pottery trail.

According to the godfather of the St. Croix Pottery Studio Tour & Sale, potter Robert Briscoe, those early goals were achieved, and then some.

Briscoe, who lives west of Fish Lake, said the immediate popularity of this event surprised those involved. A couple years into the original concept, the local artist group was already figuring out how to improve upon it.

To expand the experience elite, innovative guest potters were invited in. Some of the six studios on the tour now host several visiting artists, with 29 involved now and “it just keeps getting bigger,” said Briscoe.

He adds, this is not just local artisans “...inviting in the little guys for a day. The visiting ceramic artists are very well-known in their own right.”

He points out that the event also serves as a way for established artists to, “help the next generation, which we have a responsibility to do.”

Briscoe now anticipates this coming weekend on par with a holiday.

Working at his studio, in a sylvan clearing off a long crushed rock drive, he said he gets all the alone time he needs to tune into inspiration and create his pieces. By the time tour weekend rolls around he is pumped to re-connect with artists, see regular customers and get feedback from new people. A couple thousand visitors will pass through during a good tour weekend.

But Briscoe doesn’t take for granted his pieces are going to sell.

“It amazes me how someone will come in and buy a work of art without any okay from anybody, just because they like it,” he commented.

He looks at reaching out to own something that doesn’t have pop culture’s stamp of approval on it as courageous. People buy art just because it challenges or compliments their emotional being, it’s a highly personal thing that Briscoe cherishes.

Briscoe, 59, first paid the bills wholesaling pots for big companies. He said he put out corporate regulation size and color pots for a time to get established, but now he gets to create wares that satisfy himself. He might receive a commission once in a great while, but the majority of patrons understand the best creations are the result of an artist pursuing his/her individual muse, he added.

So, why is it that several world class ceramic artists are located in Chisago County, Briscoe is asked.

He thinks it’s a combination of things. When he established his studio west of Harris 18 years ago it was because land was affordable. He wanted to be near the Twin Cities ceramics scene and land was too development-riddled south of the metro and too expensive eastward.

Potters need space to set up and operate large kilns so they shy away from urban neighborhoods. They want to be relatively accessible to metro populations but not too accessible.

Briscoe; who until college-age lived in Kansas, said he deliberately sought out Minnesota’s distinct theatre of seasons when establishing a studio. “Minnesota nailed it for me,” he shared. He feels at home with Minnesota politics, the landscape, homegrown personalities and interacting with colleagues.

But Briscoe also enjoys doing shows. From 1978 to 1995 most of his income came from outside of Minnesota and he is still actively travelling the fine arts circuit.

He was late into his teens before he discovered ceramic arts. It was in college pursuing an economics degree (which he earned later in life) and through his college roommate that he was exposed to pottery.

Briscoe’s initial reaction to the ceramic wares was they’d “be great to cook in... then I just had to learn more.” He found a mentor in an arts teacher who had a serious pottery thing going, plus he apprenticed with potters in Kansas and Colorado and for a time worked in an arts cooperative, sharing costs and living space with weavers, painters, etc.

Briscoe has always been fond of culinary pursuits, and pottery, he says, is not only useful for preparing and serving food, but in a roundabout way ceramics embodies his need to creatively bring together raw elements, the same way a really great recipe comes together.

Plus, working in ceramics is “beyond predictable.”

Spend a little time this weekend on the pottery studio tour and see for yourself about that.

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