Now in its 18th year, Edina's Fall into the Arts Festival returns to Centennial Lakes Park on September 10–11, 2022 with more than 225 exhibitors and proceeds benefiting the Edina Crime Prevention Fund. Here are five artists and vendors worth putting on your list.
Adama Sow
Senegalese-born Adama Sow came to ceramics by way of professional soccer — a finger injury redirected his path, and he spent years studying the craft in Réunion and in Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany's ceramics hub, before settling in Minnesota two decades ago. Today he teaches at Edina Art Center and White Bear Center for the Arts, and at the festival he plans to sell everything from elaborate platters to five-piece tea sets, including his distinctive egg cookers. His work reflects a practice grounded in tradition and built on two continents' worth of technique.
Buy Black Expo
Buy Black Expo, led by Jayda Pounds — a recent Babson College master's graduate in entrepreneurial leadership — brings a collective of youth entrepreneurs to the festival. Booths include The Bros. Code (natural home and self-care products), DoubleMD (hand-pressed clothing), Black Poetic Justice (poetry and purses), JustPray (motivational T-shirts), Countess Creations (lip and skincare), and Kai's Creations, a jewelry line run by a six-year-old. "My end goal is to create a community of entrepreneurs," Pounds says. The expo functions as both a shopping destination and a platform for the next generation of business owners.
Camille Knutson
Camille Knutson hand-fabricates rings, earrings, and necklaces — with a specialty in flower blossom jewelry that requires approximately 10 to 12 days per piece, built petal by petal, solder join by solder join. The labor-intensity is the point: each piece is meant to be held, examined, and worn as something genuinely irreplaceable. Her booth is a good stop for anyone who has wondered what it looks like when fine jewelry slows all the way down.
Holly Keller
Holly Keller makes plushie toys from secondhand materials — tactile, character-filled objects that blur the line between toy and art object. New designs at the 2022 festival include her Andy Cat series (Warhol-inspired cashmere plushies) and the Mangy Pup. Keller points to fellow Fall into the Arts artists Greta Sandquist and Sue Mooney as festival favorites worth seeking out alongside her booth.
Pedersen Metal
James and Ryan Pedersen — a father-son team working under the Pedersen Metal name — create metal sculptures drawn from natural landscapes. Their recent public installation, "Spirit of Community," is permanently displayed in Delano's Art Walk, giving their festival booth the rare backing of a civic commission. At the Fall into the Arts Festival, their work translates landscape into material form: durable, grounded, and built to last outdoors.
The full roster of 225+ artists and exhibitors is available at edinafallintothearts.com. Centennial Lakes Park is located at 7499 France Avenue South, Edina, and the festival runs September 10–11, 2022. Admission is free.