Board Member Bios

The RWCS Foundation has a 11-member board staffed solely by volunteers. Each of these members is very knowledgeable and most have areas of expertise such as stoneware, art pottery, dinnerware, or advertising pottery.

Wayne Burk has been an active member of the Red Wing Collector's Society since 1994. He has also served as president of the Iowa Chapter for the past six years.  Wayne has served on the Society Auction Committee for the past decade; assisting with auction item check-in and grading in addition to serving as a ring man on auction night. 

Wayne enjoys collecting Greek Key bowls, especially with advertising from towns in Northeast Iowa. Advertising bee hive jugs is another facet to his collection.

Wayne is the most recent member to the board, serving his first term.  You may reach Wayne via e-mail at: whburk@salamander.com.

Barb Brown was been an active member of the Red Wing Collectors Society since 1997.  Barb has served the RWCS as Display Room Chair and is active in the RWCS KidsView program.

Barb’s Red Wing collecting specialty is Brushware items 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, Maxfield Parrish illustrations.

Barb works as a nuclear industry consultant and lives in Buffalo, MN with her husband Steve.

Steve Brown was been an active member of the Red Wing Collectors Society since 1979.  Steve is currently serving his third term as the RWCS Historian.

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, Hawkes glass, Ernest Sohn designs, and Charles E. Murphy artwork.

Steve works at the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant as an Engineering Manager.  Steve lives in Buffalo, MN with his wife Barb.

Dave Hallstrom has been collecting Red Wing stoneware and art pottery for over 25 years.  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’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 Hutchson is the son of Russell (Teddy) Hutchson, who was modeler and foreman of the mold shop for 38 years and the last worker in charge of closing down Red Wing Potteries, Inc. in 1967. 

Dave started working with his father at Hutchson Pottery Molds in 1971 to help him expand his business.  Dave was in charge of the sales showroom and also helped to make the block and cases for molds.  When Dave married his wife Bonnie in 1972, both of them did the marketing and sales showroom and block and cases for molds. At the time that the business was sold in 1979, they had over 650 different designs.

Dave’s expertise is in the historical stoneware and pottery production processes.  He and his wife have donated an extensive collection of historical artifacts that Dave’s father accumulated and cherished over his lifetime to the Red Wing Pottery Museum.

Dave Kuffel -  Libertyville, Illinois

An avid Red Wing stoneware collector for almost 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", and "Collecting, According To Kuf ".   His primary Red Wing interest is in merchant advertising on bee hive jugs, butter jars, crocks, and hand thrown items.

Other interests include woodie wagon automobiles, and mission style architecture and home furnishings. Dave currently holds a seat, as Central Director, on the N ational W oodie C lub board of directors, and is president of the NWC Midwest Chapter; "Log Riders".

Professionally, Dave is a Facilities Planning Manager with a strong background in systems furniture and interior space design and construction, facility planning, and facility data management.

Dave can be contacted at davekuffel@sbcglobal.net .

Ron Linde has been a volunteer Board member of the Red Wing Collectors Society Foundation since its inception in 2000 and currently serves as their president. 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.

Ron joined the Red Wing Collectors Society in 1981 and is a Life Member of the American Art Pottery Association.   He is also a member  of 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 served as president of MAPA for five years from 1994-1999.

Ron frequently consults on Red Wing art ware and he can be contacted at ronlinde@clear.lakes.com.

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 Peterson has been collecting Red Wing stoneware and art pottery for over 37 years.  He is currently Treasurer of the Red Wing Collectors Society Foundation. 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 a regional manager for Edina Realty.  You can contact Larry at: larrypeterson@edinarealty.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.