Valley Pottery: 2,000 Years

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? Valley potters working here today created pieces inspired by the forms, decorations and stories they learned about during a recent visit to the Science Museum of Minnesota.There, archaeologist Ed Fleming 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.”