Welcome to the RWCS Foundation
RWCS Foundation Mission
Foundation Museum Exhibits, Tours, and Programs
Educational Opportunities Offered by the Foundation
Pottery Related Scholarships
Changing Exhibits, New Programs and Projects
Donating or Loaning Pottery, Volunteering, etc.
Map and Directions to the Foundation Museum
Board Member Bios and Areas of Expertise
Related Red Wing Organizations
How to Contact the RWCS Foundation

Board Member Bios

The RWCS Foundation has a 13-member board staffed solely by volunteers. Each of these members are very familiar with the products of the Red Wing Stoneware companies and most have areas of expertise such as stoneware, art pottery, dinnerware, or advertising pottery.

Barb Brown has been an active member of the Red Wing Collectors Society since 1997. She is the current Secretary of the Red Wing Collector Society Foundation. Barb has previously served as the RWCS Display Room Chair and is active in the RWCS KidsView program.

Barb’s Red Wing collecting specialty is Stoneware Brushware pieces and various dinnerware patterns. She also collects advertising pieces from Medford and Richland Center, WI. Barb’s other collecting interests include Rookwood and Van Briggle Pottery, Ephraim Faience Pottery and Maxfield Parrish prints and illustrated books.

Barb works as a nuclear industry consultant and lives in Manitowoc, WI with her husband Steve. Barb can be reached at: bjb65@comcast.net.
 

Steve Brown has been an active member of the Red Wing Collectors Society since 1979. Steve is the current Historian for the Red Wing Collector Society and the Red Wing Collector Society Foundation.

Steve’s Red Wing collecting specialty is off-production Red Wing items. He has an extensive collection of lunch-hour dinner plates, glaze test samples, and other prototype pieces. He is also interested in local Red Wing advertising items.

Steve has other collecting interests, including Van Briggle Pottery, Nemadji pottery, Ephraim Faience Pottery, Hawkes glass, Ernest Sohn designs, and Charles E. Murphy artwork.

Steve works at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant as an Engineering Manager. Steve lives in Manitowoc, WI with his wife Barb. Steve can be reached at: bigpaws1@comcast.net.
 
Dave Hallstrom has been collecting Red Wing stoneware and art pottery for over 25 years and currently serves as museum director..  He has been a member of the Red Wing Collectors Society (RWCS) since 1981 and has served as convention chair from 1989 – 1997. He was elected to the RWCS Hall of Fame in 2003 and also served as President of the Cannon Valley Red Wing Collectors Club.

Dave’s collecting interests for Red Wing are the earliest salt glazed stoneware, lunch hour pieces, and art pottery. He is passionate about preserving the history and artifacts of the Red Wing’s clay industry. He and his wife Diane were instrumental in saving the architectural star from the original North Star Stoneware Co. building and are currently working on preserving the remains of the Red Wing kiln and also to help establish interruptive signs for the pottery dump site.

Dave owns and operates Hallstrom’s Florist & Greenhouses, a fourth generation business which was established in 1886 and is located in Red Wing, MN.  You can contact him at: diahall@redwing.net.
 
Diane Hallstrom has been collecting Red Wing stoneware and art pottery for over 25 years.  She is the current Treasurer of the Red Wing Collectors Society Foundation and Curator of the Red wing Pottery Museum. Diane has been a member of the Red Wing Collectors Society (RWCS) since 1981 and served as their convention chair from 1989 – 1997.   She was elected to the RWCS Hall of Fame in 2003, along with her husband Dave.

Diane’s Red Wing collecting interests include earliest salt glazed stoneware, lunch hour pieces, art pottery, and Red Wing memorabilia and she has a strong passion for preserving the Red Wing’s clay industries artifacts and history. 

Along with her husband Dave, Diane owns and operates Hallstrom’s Florist & Greenhouses, a fourth generation business which was established in 1886 and is located in Red Wing, MN.  You can contact her at: diahall@redwing.net.

 
Dave Kuffel -  Libertyville, Illinois

Dave has been a volunteer board member since it's inception and currently serves as president. An avid Red Wing stoneware collector for more than 30 years, Dave has attended all annual Red Wing Conventions and Mid-Winter "Get-Togethers" since 1980. Dave has also presented several Society Convention seminars including; "Bee Hive Appreciation", "Advertising Bee Hive Jugs", "Red Wing Stoneware With Food Advertising", "Identifying Red Wing Advertising", "Collecting According To Kuf", and "The Ledger". His primary Red Wing interest is in merchant advertising on bee hive jugs, butter jars, crocks, and hand thrown pottery items.

Other interests include woodie wagon automobiles, and mission style architecture and home furnishings. Dave currently holds a seat, as a Central Director, on the National Woodie Club board of directors, and is president of the NWC Midwest Chapter; "Log Riders". Dave's professional background in facilities planning provided for the layout and design of the Red Wing Pottery Musem. He has a strong background in systems furniture, interior space design and construction, facility administration, and facility data management. Dave can be contacted at davekuffel@sbcglobal.net .
 
Wayne Miller has been collecting Red Wing Stoneware since 1979 and became a member of the Red Wing Collectors Society that same year.

Advertising potteries’ items, originally ordered by the local merchants to promote their trade, are the focal point of Wayne’s collection. He also collects old postcards from Red Wing, Minnesota and neighboring towns, and has been a member of the Twin City Postcard Club for over 25 years. Wayne also has an interest in vintage general line advertising and souvenir items, as well as old photography from the Red Wing area. Antique gas pumps are another of Wayne’s soft spots; he has a few that are targeted for restoration. He is an active chapter member of the Cannon Valley Red Wing Collectors Club, a member of the North Dakota Pottery Collectors Society, and a member of the Goodhue County History Center. His many interests and collections are fueled by his strong passion for local history.

Wayne and his wife Jean live in Red Wing and have presented several displays, in the “Memorabilia Category”, at the Red Wing Collectors Society Convention in July.

Wayne is celebrating his 33rd year as a driver with United Parcel Service. He can be contacted at wjmiller@charter.net.
 
Steve Muehleck has been collecting products of the Red Wing pottery industry since 1983, has been a member of the RWCS since 1987 and has served on the RWCS Foundation Board since 2001. His collecting interests have evolved over the years and are currently focused in the areas of Washington state advertising items, hand-decorated salt glaze ware and unusual Albany slip decorative pieces. Although it is always nice to add something new to his collection, Steve most enjoys his relationships with fellow collectors throughout the country. Steve devotes much of his time working in the medical field when not chasing stoneware or attending to his family. Contact - sdmlpm@msn.com.
 
Larry Roschen has been an active member of the Red Wing Collectors Society since 1980. Red Wing pitchers, teapots, salt & pepper shakers, and dinner plates are Larry's collecting specialty. He is also focused on building complete sets of several Red Wing dinnerware patterns. In recent years the research of original Red Wing dinnerware documents has been Larry's primary interest. He currently serves as the dinnerware advisor for the "Ask the Experts" section of the RWCS website. Larry, and his friend Terry Moe, have presented numerous Convention and Mid-Winter educational seminars on dinnerware. He and his wife Kathy served as RWCS Commemorative Managers from 1993 to 2000. Larry has also been an active member of the RWCS Gopher Chapter since 1980 and served as president in the early 1980's. He served as commemorative manager for the chapter from 1990 to 1992 and again from 2002 to present. Larry is a pharmacist and is currently employed as an Informatics Pharmacist for the HealthEast Care System in St Paul, MN. Larry can be contacted at redwinglr@aol.com.
 

Louise Schleich has been a member of the Red Wing Collectors Society since 1987. Over the years collecting Red Wing turned into a passion for both Louise and her late husband, Jerry, and in 2001 the couple opened the Schleich Red Wing Pottery Collection in their home town of Lincoln, NE. This one-of-kind museum features over 5,000 Red Wing pieces, spanning the company’s entire history. Louise’s expertise is in the area of dinnerware and the 100-plus patterns Red Wing manufactured. You may reach Louise via e-mail at: ldschleich@aol.com.

 
 
Carmen Selfridge started collecting spongeware in the mid-1980's. As one might suspect, that led to collecting Red Wing Stoneware. She joined the Red Wing Collectors Society in 1990, and the Golden State Chapter (California)shortly thereafter. Carmen has actively supported chapter initiatives by assisting with several RWCS Convention related displays and projects. Carmen is also a member of the Blue & White Pottery Club, and has always been passionate about preserving, and sharing, history.

Carmen's husband, Bruce, and their two sons, John and Aubrey are active collectors as well. Together, they have renovated an 1870's farm house in their home town of Healdsburg, California; creating a perfect setting for their collections of antique toys, vintage textiles, stoneware and other antiquities. Carmen can be contacted at 67bigblock@comcast.net.
 
Dave Short

Bio coming soon!!!
 
Gary Tyc has been collecting stoneware products, made by the Red Wing, Minnesota stoneware companies, since 1993. Collecting interests are primarily focused on merchant advertising stoneware and hand-decorated salt glaze pieces. Gary is a past president of the Rocky Mountain chapter of the Red Wing Collectors Society. Sharing with fellow collectors has always been one of the most rewarding and enjoyable aspects of being involved with the Red Wing Collectors Society. Gary lives in Tucson , AZ with his wife Debra, a published writer of short story fiction and non-fiction. Gary can be contacted at gtyc@dsaco.com.
 

Ambassadors to the Foundation
Ron Linde has been a volunteer Board member of the Red Wing Collectors Society Foundation since its inception in 2000 and served as president from 2003-2009. He has been a speaker for numerous meetings and groups about the potteries at Red Wing and their production. He spoke on “Red Wing Art Pottery” as keynote speaker at the national convention of the American Art Pottery Association in 1998.From numerous conversations and interviews with Red Wing designer Charles E. Murphy, he has written several articles and been a consultant for the RWCS Newsletter. In 1993 he researched many old catalogues and wrote “Making Sense of Shape Numbers on the Bottom of Red Wing Art Pottery” (RWCS Collectors Newsletter, June/July, 1993). He has served the Minnesota History Center as a volunteer consultant on their Red Wing collections. He was inducted into the Red Wing Collectors Society Hall of Fame in 2003. He and Rob Ostrander have endowed the Red Wing Collectors Society Foundation Award presented through the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis.

Ron joined the Red Wing Collectors Society in 1981 and is a Life Member of the American Art Pottery Association. He has had membership in the Uhl Collectors Society, the Haeger Pottery Collectors Association, Collectors of Illinois Pottery and Stoneware, the North Dakota Pottery Collectors, and the Minnesota Art Pottery Association (MAPA). He has served as president of MAPA for five years from 1994-1999 and in 2009-2010. Ron frequently consults on Red Wing art ware and can be contacted at ronlinde@lakes.com.
 
Larry Peterson has been collecting Red Wing stoneware and art pottery for over 37 years. He has served on the Foundation board since its inception, and as past Treasurer. Larry is also a charter member of the Red Wing Collectors Society (RWCS), and served as their Education Chair from 1992 - 1996. He was elected to the RWCS Hall of Fame in 1999, and has also served as president of the Cannon Valley Red Wing Collectors Club. He has enjoyed participating in every convention and MidWinter GetTogether and has co-authored two books: Red Wing Stoneware and Red Wing Collectibles. Larry own Larry’s Jugs in Red Wing, MN, which is the only shop in the nation that specializes in the stoneware and art pottery of Red Wing and his specialty is Red Wing stoneware. He lives in Farmington, MN with his wife, Pauline and is recently retired from serving as a regional manager for Edina Realty. You can contact Larry at: larrypeterson@edinarealty.com.