For Jon Thompson and Karla Mikkelson, it can be business enterprise, as that is wherever they come across many of the materials Thompson employs in the jewelry he would make beneath the manufacturer identify JT Maui Jewelry, this sort of as seaside glass, driftwood and coconut.
“When I stroll close to the beach, I’m commonly filling my pockets,” he stated.
JT Maui jewellery will be on this year’s Artwork DeTour, a tour of a dozen artist’s studios and 22 artists in Douglas and Otter Tail counties, which runs Friday-Saturday, June 18-19, from 9 a.m.-7 p.m., and lots of web pages also open from midday-5 p.m. on Sunday. It truly is a restart of kinds for the tour, which began in 2019 and noticed its next yearly demonstrate canceled past yr mainly because of the pandemic. It can be modeled soon after the Art of the Lakes Studio Tour, which also attributes artists in Douglas and Otter Tail counties, and which takes place in July.
This year’s tour involves several new artists, but has also seen some artists fall off.
“Some individuals were being not able to target on their artwork in the course of the pandemic,” claimed Mimi Seykora, a single of the organizers and also an artist on the tour. “Some individuals didn’t have the inventory or did not think they could get all set.”
She expects that all those artists will want to return in 2022.
“It is certainly developing,” she reported. “What we’re hoping to do is retain the range of locations but increase the amount of artists, so we’re not sprawled all above Douglas and Otter Tail county, and so you can get it accomplished in a single working day.”
JT Maui Jewellery will established up at Seykora’s studio this calendar year, in which Thompson will exhibit jewelry producing throughout the tour.
His enterprise title comes from the 15 a long time he expended on the island of Maui, where he built necklaces for himself from coconut hulls when he was not running resorts.
Originally from Excelsior, Minnesota, he moved again to Minnesota soon after reconnecting with Mikkelson, a university girlfriend. He waited tables in Alexandria and made jewelry on the aspect, and several decades back persuaded her that with her graphic style and design and marketing experience, and his jewellery-generating abilities, they could build a business that would aid both of them.
They established up an on line shop on Etsy, where jewellery and jewellery-creating provides are prime sellers, and the place they discovered a couple of a long time in the past that they are now in the leading 1% of Etsy sellers. The small business has supported both of them because 2016.
Thompson involves semi-valuable stones like lapis lazuli, amethysts, turquoise and peridot. You will also find lava beads, a porous materials that wearers infuse with critical oils of their preference. Men and women also send him their individual objects to turn into jewellery or keychains: shell casings from a 21-gun-salute from a veteran’s funeral, for occasion, or old coins that he suspends from a sensitive website of copper.
JT Maui’s creations involves turning invested shell casings into just one-of-a-type gifts. (Karen Tolkkinen / Echo Push)
Their Etsy profits produced up for what they dropped in performing displays, and they have found out they can scale back on these displays. They used to do 22 reveals a calendar year, but now are carrying out 8 or 9 of their favorites demonstrates, of which the Artwork DeTour is just one.
List of studio destinations and artists:
1. 45671 348th St. in Ottertail. Clayhouse Pottery, with Sandra Shaughnessy’s functional and foodstuff-safe pottery higher-fired in a soda kiln in exclusive types.
2. 35059 Boys Shore Path in Ottertail. Arthouse, with Shirlee Daulton’s woodcuts, handmade paper from plants, fish prints, clay, paintings, fiber arts and unusual jewelry.
3. 46730 County Freeway 54 in Ottertail. Pine Mill Farm Furnishings, with Sharon and Roger Krause’s custom-developed, strong wood, lacquer-completed furniture.
4. 32586 Island Road in Battle Lake. Pomme de Terre Pottery, with Sean Scott’s hand-built practical and attractive stoneware pottery.
5. 16570 County Street 64 NE in Miltona (Place not open up Sunday.)
- JD Johnson Imaginative Solutions, with surf-motivated artwork including resin, acrylic, oil, blended media, and images
- Katherine Bockelmann Great Arts, with portraits and drawings of mother nature in graphite and charcoal.
6. 13694 E. Lake Miltona Dr. NE in Miltona
- Art by Melissa, with Melissa Werpy’s wheel-thrown and hand-constructed pottery with vibrant imagery and pastel, acrylic, oil paintings.
- Steve King, stained glass artwork and practical pieces.
7. 2117 Ironwood Dr. in Alexandria
- Pottersmith’s, with Kate Smith’s stunning, strong, food items-safe porcelain and stoneware and Phil Smith’s whimsical, functional pottery.
- Barbara Johnson, with wildlife, character, and travel pictures prints and practical items.
8. 4255 County Street 11 NE in Alexandria
- Chanda Kraft Artwork & Structure, with paintings in oil or watercolor and drawings of landscapes and nature. Also contains kid’s activities.
- Wolf Operate Pottery, with Emily Wolf’s hand-developed or wheel-thrown purposeful pottery with dipped glazes.
9. 101 3 Havens Generate NE in Alexandria (place not open Sunday.)
- 3 Havens Artworks, with Linda Gaugert’s oil, acrylic, watercolor, and mixed media.
- Hectic Squirrel Creations, with Matt Bakke’s woodwork which includes turned bowls, artwork items, and picket video games.
- Donna Dean’s watercolor, multimedia collage, clay, silk scarves, and seed bead jewelry.
10. Not out there this year.
11. 11076 Twilight Trail NW in Garfield (area not open Sunday.) Cane Toad Studio, with Leanne Larson’s primary oil paintings, dwell marriage ceremony working day paintings done on web-site.
12. 316 Nokomis St. in Alexandria (site not open Sunday.) Handcrafted by Noni, with Naomi Bjorklund’s oil portrait, landscape, and floral paintings. Handmade enamel jewelry.
13. 4365 County Highway 82 NW in Alexandria
- Turning Lake Styles, with Invoice Seykora’s wood turned bowls, coloured pencil Lazy Susans, and charcuterie boards, and Merodie (Mimi) Seykora’s stoneware, Raku pottery, and jewellery.
- Song of Ruth, with Ruth Hanson’s watercolor batik, watercolor and gouache, oil pastel, acrylic, and calligraphy.
- JT Maui Styles, with Jon Thompson’s jewelry with hammered metals, treasured gemstones, and identified objects.