---

In the last three years, over 550 Kindergarten through eighth grade students and adults have had a chance to make pottery in a Chisago Lakes Community Education class. None of this would have been possible had the St. Croix Pottery Tour potters not stepped forward and purchased six portable wheels and pottery tools to be used in these classes. The classes have been taught by a variety of teachers: Richard Vincent from the St. Croix Pottery Tour, Marlene Biondo from the Chisago Lakes High School art department, and Annette Gmyrek ( a local resident passionate about pottery) put in a number of hours in helping students experience the wonder of spinning clay into a pot on a wheel.

In the last year, the artists involved in the St. Croix Pottery Tour donated a kiln to Chisago Lakes Area Schools to be used for the school art program and to assist in firing pots for the after school classes. Their generosity has created a convenient avenue for people of this area to experience pottery first hand. If you would like to take a pottery class, Community Education has a full slate of pottery classes that include parent-child pottery, adult pottery, and pottery at all the elementary schools and the middle school. The Pottery Tour is held every spring. See www.minnesotapotters.com.

---