Though born in Milwaukee, Kaemmer moved to Saint Paul when he was 3 and considers himself to be “basically a Twin Cities native.” What inspires him? “Apart from the amount of art being made around here, there is a certain humility among the artists I run into. This allows for open sharing of ideas and information that can be helpful as you run up against various obstacles. While not unique to the craft community, this Midwestern, understated attitude is refreshing, especially in glass, where you can run into a fair amount of bravado and ego.” On the flip side, says Kaemmer, “A challenging thing for me as a glassblower is that we are a very ceramics-friendly region and people’s appreciation of, or appetite for, glass is less enthusiastic than in other regions of the US. We are a very practical group of people up here in Minnesota, and sometimes glass is a bit too impractical, flashy, or spendy, as we like to say.”

Kaemmer sees an evolution happening in the Twin Cities craft scene. “One big change for me is the aging of the craftspeople in my world. My mentors are all retiring, either by choice or necessity. We are losing a lot of knowledge and experience as these people step away from the making process. There are a lot of young people bringing new energy and new techniques into the craft/art scene, but there are a lot of people who paved the way, carved out a living, and cultivated markets who are no longer active and have a lot of wisdom to share.”

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ARTISTS KAEMMER ADMIRES:
Judith Kinghorn is an “amazing jewelry designer and maker”; Jim and Renee Engebretson “are my mentors and makers of beautiful glass bowls—they live just over the border in Wisconsin, but don’t hold that against them”; furniture maker and designer Scott McGlasson of Woodsport in Saint Paul “expresses a cool aesthetic in wood”; Dean Lucker and Ann Wood “make great sculptures in wood and paper”; and mixed-media artist Joan Cox “is a fantastic painter.”