Mudluk Pottery
“SHAPING DREAMS”
by Cade Martin
Minnesota artist and community builder Sayge Carroll has been shaping the foundation of their dream business for more than 30 years. Today, that dream has come to life as Mudluk Pottery—a Black, queer, woman-owned ceramics sanctuary and welcoming space just south of downtown Minneapolis, made possible by the strong network they’ve cultivated in the Minneapolis-St. Paul community.
Co-founded by Carroll, Keegan Xavi, and Katrina Knutson, Mudluk opened in 2022 as a community space where artists of all backgrounds can cast aside their anxieties and get their hands messy. Today, Mudluk offers pottery classes, workshops, exhibitions, and residencies. Mudluk also hosts a variety of community gatherings and conversations—both pottery focused and not.
Left to right: Knutson, Carroll, and Xavi, in front of Mudluk Pottery’s studio. Courtesy of Mudluk Pottery (mudlukpottery.com).
Carroll, who uses flexible pronouns, met Xavi and Knutson in 2010 while all three were part of a Twin Cities-based art collective. During this time, the three artists established a support system that set the stage for their future business partnership. Though a number of years would pass before the trio founded Mudluk together, Carroll said working with Xavi and Knutson made the trio feel “invincible.”
Carroll discovered their love for art while growing up in Minnesota. This passion was fostered even more after they were given a camera by their father. Teaching themself analog photography set in motion their drive to grow as an interdisciplinary, self-taught artist. Carroll practiced a variety of artistic disciplines over the next twenty years, searching for the medium that would feel fully their own.
While acting with local African-American-focused performing arts center Penumbra Theater from 1993 to 1995, Carroll met their mentor Seitu Jones—a Saint Paul-based community organizer and public art tour de force. Jones would later advise them not to feel pressured to decide on one art form, a turning point that Carroll said allowed them to fully embrace their artistic journey.
“‘If you want to do more than [just] photography, you should do all the things that you want to do,’” Carroll said, quoting their mentor.
It wasn’t until 2007, when Carroll returned to Minneapolis from living in Milwaukee for a time, that they began working with clay.
“I felt like I was at home immediately with clay in a way that I wasn’t with anything else,” Carroll said.
Behind a potter’s wheel, Carroll came to love the holistic feeling of control they discovered through the creation of each new pottery piece.
“[Clay] will teach you all of the metaphors of life, and it will teach you in the most constant, gentle way possible,” Carroll said.
Carroll shared this healing process through their early experiences teaching pottery. In 2015 they taught at a psychiatric care facility in Minnesota, bringing in clay for youth receiving inpatient mental health services to work with as a way to nurture a sense of control.
“When [you] take raw clay and make it into something… that lets you know you have some power,” Carroll said. “Keeping your hands busy gives you an endorphin rush as well and helps regulate your nervous system.”
Carroll at the wheel. Courtesy of Mudluk Pottery (mudlukpottery.com).
Carroll was inspired to create their own business plan for a pottery studio after attending the annual NCECA conference for ceramics and connecting with other Black artists during the event. In 2015, they enrolled in the Neighborhood Development Center’s (NDC) Entrepreneur Training class to further develop their business plan. The NDC, a local non-profit which provides tools and resources to entrepreneurs, coached Carroll on how to confidently interact with financial institutions that could help them actualize their dream business. Carroll’s pitch: “If you can see what I have done with no money, imagine if I had the actual funding we needed.”
Starting in 2018, Carroll spent a year and a half working with the Minneapolis-based non-profit youth art and design education center Juxtaposition Arts (JXTA). As JXTA’s Artist & Contemporary Art Lab Lead, Carroll created their ceramics program and taught students like Ceci Andrade Vital, who now works alongside them at Mudluk.
Carroll left JXTA to earn their MFA in Interdisciplinary Art and Social Practice from the University of Minnesota. Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, they found solace in the community’s collective response.
“[When] the uprising started happening… I started sleeping better than I had been sleeping in the last decade, because everybody was paying attention,” Carroll said.
The following year, Carroll, Xavi, and Knutson came together to lay the groundwork for their own ceramics studio, Mudluk Pottery.
As a team the trio felt they could support each other while growing their impact and bringing more people together through art.
“We knew if we could get a little storefront, we could make all of these things happen,” Carroll said.
Mudluk’s founding was the result of years of community building. Having lived in several cities, Carroll said they especially appreciate the Minneapolis arts community. Knutson also emphasized the role of community support.
“[We’re] building with the connections that we've had and made in Minneapolis over the last three decades,” Knutson said, “I’ve always felt like this is the city where artists bring each other together.”
Carroll and Knutson both said community collaboration is central to Mudluk’s operation.
“That’s what our gallery is really about,” Carroll said, “highlighting artists in the community… and our good neighbors and community members.”
The studio is open most days from 10am to at least 5pm, and the space is utilized during off-hours for community events and discussions, as well as a range of classes. A staging area at the entrance to Mudluk features the works of local artists for sale, and all of the clay they use is sourced through local business Continental Clay.
“I really feel like we are so much stronger if we’re working together. I want to offer to help make your dreams come true, because my dream is happening.”
Emblematic of Mudluk’s mission to center local resources and community is their “First Fridays” experience—a drop‑in evening at the start of each month where anyone can pick up a ball of clay and “dip your toes in” without instruction.
Left: “First Friday” participants experiment with clay. Right: The inaugural poster for “Mudluk Melanated”. Courtesy of Mudluk Pottery (instagram.com/mudluk_pottery).
A mainstay on Mudluk’s growing events calendar, First Fridays now regularly feature tarot card readings and acupuncture ear seed placements from local practitioners who want to be a part of the community experience Mudluk continues to build.
“[First Fridays] just started growing into this thing where people wanted to be there, wanted to offer things, wanted to support,” Carroll said, “and you don’t turn that kind of wonderfulness down.”
Proceeds from First Fridays go to Mudluk’s scholarship fund, which helps ensure that those who can’t afford classes at Mudluk are still welcome.
The business’s reach continues to extend beyond its walls by building on past projects, including “Harvest Feast”—an annual community gathering that Carroll started in 2016. Xavi joined Carroll in 2020 to help co-host and expand the event following the murder of George Floyd. The Harvest Feast gatherings brought their respective neighborhoods together to share food, celebrate art, and inspire collective nurturing.
Scenes from “Harvest Feast” in 2022. Community members gathered to share food, support, and firelight. Courtesy of Mudluk Pottery (instagram.com/mudluk_pottery).
After Mudluk’s founding, they began collaborating with the Kingfield Neighborhood Association for “Empty Bowls” events where Kingfield provided clay to Mudluk for potters to use to make and donate bowls to raise money for community causes. Inspired by the Empty Bowls event format, Carroll and their contacts at local organizations began brainstorming another evolution for Harvest Feast.
“We said we need to do a ‘Bowls & Spoons,’ [with CAFAC]” Carroll explained, “and because it’s held at George Floyd Square, we’ve invited the whole community.”
In the fall of 2025, the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center (CAFAC) and the Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization (CANDO) will join Mudluk to further evolve what Harvest Feast started into a community event called “Seeds, Bowls & Spoons.” On the day of the event—with bowls made at Mudluk, metal spoons from CAFAC, and food grown by community gardeners from CANDO—local bands and spoken‑word artists will round out the newly expanded harvest celebration.
Mudluk recently launched a new recurring event called “Mudluk Melanated”—a monthly dedicated studio night for BIPOC community members to dive into introductory clay work. The idea was sparked by Ogi Ruel, a fellow community educator who attends classes Mudluk hosts at Franklin Library. Ruel suggested that Mudluk begin hosting BIPOC gatherings. That was all the push they needed to make this event a reality. Each Mudluk Melanated session offers light bites, curated playlists, and hands-on projects that encourage participants to step away from screens, explore new skills, and connect over shared creativity in a safe space.
“We're trying to find a way that feels like we are supporting while also being supported in our mutual aid community that we are building,” Carroll said.
Mudluk’s offerings continue to evolve in a variety of ways. A new raku kiln and rocket kiln are joining the studio’s arsenal, and a van is being converted into a mobile “Mud‑bus” as the team plans to bring clay pop‑ups to neighborhoods across the Twin Cities. This summer will also mark the second year of Mudluk’s weeklong summer camps for kids. Additionally, Mudluk’s membership program—which currently provides full studio access, dedicated shelf space, reduced rates for firing pieces, free access to Mudluk’s glazes, and the ability for members to sell their pieces in the storefront—will soon include even more benefits.
“We are going to start adding quarterly gatherings [for members] where we can do more demos, ” Carroll said, “It's nice to be able to bounce off ideas, see how to do new things, and have people share some of their stuff.”
As the roots of their business continue to grow, Carroll reflects on how this dream has finally bloomed after decades of relationship‑building.
“It’s been such a gift,” Carroll said, “from the ’90s on, I have been planting seeds. And they all are coming to fruition right now.”
The co-founders are beginning to outgrow the current place, and hope to find a larger studio to match their growing ambitions. They envision opening up their space for even more off‑hours events, and more community discussions with new and returning speakers.
Mudluk hosted Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan and members of the Council on LGBTQIA2S+ Minnesotans for a community advocacy discussion in June 2024.
“I really feel like we are so much stronger if we’re working together,” Carroll said, “I want to offer to help make your dreams come true, because my dream is happening.”
Sculpting their dream business has taken time, effort, and plenty of “happy accidents,” but as Carroll says, “The other thing clay will teach you is: try again, and then try again, and then try again— because you will get it right.”
At Mudluk, every wheel‑throw, scholarship‑funded potter, and community event is another testament to clay’s power—to teach patience, build resilience, and help shape a more connected community.
