Down a long, wooded stretch of county highway 20 miles from Two Harbors, two artists work in virtual seclusion. He produces sculptures; she fashions earrings. Both use the nontraditional medium of recycled glass.

With the quiet waters of Thomas Lake licking at their backyard, each artist cuts and fuses. The setting is extraordinary, but for Michael Tonder and Jody Freij-Tonder of Blue Skies Glassworks, it’s just everyday life in northern Minnesota.

The husband and wife open their home and studios to about 250 visitors each fall during the Crossing Borders art studio tour. This year 15 artists at 10 locations will participate in the tour that stretches along Highway 61 from Duluth to Thunder Bay, Ontario. In its ninth year, the event always falls on the last week of September as fall colors peak in Northeastern Minnesota.

A brochure with a detailed map leads visitors on the self-guided tour. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, artists explain and demonstrate their artistic process and answer visitors’ questions. Artwork is for sale, and refreshments are provided. The relaxed atmosphere makes for a week-long celebration of regional art and artists.

The artists behind it all

The Tonders helped organize the first Crossing Borders tour in 1997, a major achievement for two people who hadn’t set out in life to be artists, much less leaders in the art community.

Michael is a Little Falls, MN native; Jody is from Red Wing. They met and married at age 19 in 1973, and spent the next two decades moving around the state, largely following Michael’s career. He worked as a forester and park manager in Little Falls, New Ulm, Mankato and Finland.

His first glimpse into the artist lifestyle came in the mid-1970s when he and Jody were living in Little Falls. Their friend Bob Briscoe was a potter, and he and his wife traveled to art fairs to sell his work. Michael sometimes sometimes accompanied them.

“I liked the sort of self-determination, self-direction that they had as art fair kind of artists,” he said. “They could make their work and pack it up, go to shows, sell the work. It was a very full circle kind of thing.”

Michael’s college education at state universities in Bemidji and Winona had included just one general art class. Jody’s education in Winona included a degree in sales and management and later a second degree in corrections. She wasn’t introduced to glass art until 1984, when a friend began giving her instruction in stained glass. At about that time, Michael caught his first glimpse of fused glass while traveling to shows with Briscoe

.

“It was different than stained glass. It had a three-dimensional quality that’s hard to get with stained glass, and it wasn’t as financially or time intensive as glassblowing,” he said.

The couple bought a kiln, the large oven used to fuse pieces of glass, and two good books on fusion. As they learned the medium, Jody performed the glass cutting and Michael did the kiln work.

When Jody landed a job in corrections in 1987, the couple moved to Red Wing. Michael took over parenting duties and became more involved with art. He started working with window glass - standard clear, quarter-inch plates - and developed the aesthetic that would define his art: an icy, glacial appearance, natural but abstract. He accomplished this through fusing panes then sandblasting them.

“When I was working as a forester, there was a stretch of the Mississippi River I would cross frequently,” he said. “In the spring, when the ice would break up on the river, it would hit this stretch of shallows and this flat sheet of ice would hit and start tipping up, similar to when the big lake breaks up and the ice moves in. It was natural to use glass to mimic this natural phenomenon.”

By 1993, Michael was selling his work at art shows and finally seeing some profits. Jody left her job. A 1995 visit to Duluth’s Blues Festival convinced the Tonders they should return to the shore, and within a year they bought the Thomas Lake property where they still live today. They renovated the double garage into a glass studio and later built a second workspace on the grounds as well.

With the move came a new life for the couple. They were full-time artists now, with their own distinct styles. Michael sold his sculptures at art shows and through galleries. Jody sold her earrings wholesale, doing much of her business through the Internet. Her degree in sales had become unexpected useful.

Their glass came from a variety of sources, including other artists and buildings slated for demolition. This summer the Tonders salvaged some of the windows from the old East Bay Hotel in Grand Marais with its conversion into condominiums.

They also were fostering a sense of community among the region’s artists. In 1996, they organized the “first Third Thursday” potluck dinner, a monthly gathering of area artists that continues after nearly a decade.

Planning a successful tour

Michael Tonder and potters Dick Cooter of Two Harbors and Fritz Lehmberg in Ontario, Canada collaborated to start Crossing Borders. They wanted to organize a studio tour that would track the North Shore from Duluth to Ontario. They chose to limit the number of studios and keep them evenly distributed along the corridor. they decided fall was the prime time, when the leaves are turning, brilliant hues abound and folks are home from their summer vacations. Extending the tour over a week would allow visitors travel time between the rural studios and encourage them to slow down and enjoy autumn in northern Minnesota, they reasoned.

Ten studios representing 14 artists participated the first year. Almost a decade later, most of those artists still participate. They generally fit three criteria: live along the North Shore, make their living as full-time artists and present work that is aesthetically interesting to the other participants.

Michael had to give up the Kansas City Plaza Show, an art fair that falls on the same weekend as the tour. “My goal was to make enough sales (during Crossing Borders) to replace the income from that show, which we were able to accomplish by the third year,” he said.

The Crossing Borders tour accounts for 20 percent of the couple’s annual sales.

Michael estimates 95 percent of the people who visit their home during the tour buy something, many coming back from previous years. The Tonders see about 250 to 300 people, but say their remote location deters some visitors.

Other locations have larger draws: printmaker Betsy Bowen in Grand Marais, for instance, hosts about 800 people. The Cooters, a potter and weaver husband and wife, also see a large turnout. Most visitors are from the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area.

Though these artists turn a profit, the cost to participate is high. One expense is the design and printing of brochures, which is evenly split among each artist on the tour. This year 25,000 brochures were printed. (Michael and Jody count as two artists and each pay a share.)

Artists also share the fee charged by a distributor who puts brochures in large pamphlet racks at hotels and restaurants. These racks usually are privately-owned and there’s also a charge for that exposure.

Artists are individually responsible for mailing brochures to their customer lists, which they compile from shows and fairs where they’ve sold work. The other main expense is refreshments “Beer!” Michael laughed. Food and beverages, printing and postage costs run between $1,000 and $2,000 each year.

It’s worth it, though, for a charismatic couple that clearly enjoys talking with people. “ At an art fair, you just don’t have that interchange,” said Michael, who exhibits at seven to nine large art shows a year.

Space constraints at such shows limit him to to just 20 to 30 sculptures in his booth. On the lawn of his lakefront property, he sets up a breathtaking display of 25 pedestals topped with sculptures. More work is on display in his home and studio.

Crossing Borders is regarded among the premiere studio tours in Minnesota. No. 1 is the St. Croix Valley Potters Tour held in May, which was 13 years old this year. It was started by Briscoe, Michael’s friend back in Little Falls, and its success inspired Michael.

“We had access to a lot of info from the St. Croix Potters Tour, so we looked at what worked well for them, Michael said.

Adds Jody: “That tour and our tour are now the two best-established tours in the state.

This year the tour runs from Friday, Sept. 23, to Sunday, Oct. 2. There is no charge to visit the studios. Passports are not required to enter Canada, but you will need a photo I.D. There is no duty on signed artwork. Studios will feature woodblock prints, jewelry, clothes, pottery, stone sculpture, beadwork, hand-woven blankets and glass art. All work is for sale.

Julia Durst is a Duluth freelance writer.

Useful Links:

Blue Skies Glassworks

Crossing Borders Art Sudio Tour

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