Star Tribune
Maureen Brockway, well-known potter and teacher, remembered for her inviting lessons
Ingrid Sundstrom remembers the last time she saw her friend and teacher Maureen Brockway, a potter who was well known in the Twin Cities arts community.
It was in 2019 at a national ceramics show in Minneapolis, and Brockway was in high demand.
“There’s thousands of ceramic artists from all over the world that come to this show, and it seemed everywhere she turned, somebody said, ‘Maureen! Maureen! Maureen!’ ” Sundstrom said.
Brockway devoted her life to teaching her craft and exhibited her work at shows around the Twin Cities. Her many friends and former students are remembering her skills and warmth as a teacher since Brockway’s death on July 24 in Denver. She was 85.
Brockway, maiden name McDermaid, was born in Detroit, but her family moved shortly after to White Bear Lake. She graduated from Mahtomedi High School in 1955 and went on to the University of Minnesota, where she majored in art education and Spanish.
At the U, she studied under Warren McKenzie, the internationally known potter. But in Minnesota she was well known for her own pieces, usually made from hard-to-work porcelain clay and characterized by vibrant glazes sprayed with an air gun and intricate patterns of watered-down clay she applied with a syringe.
Brockway co-founded the ceramics department at the Edina Art Center and was co-head in the 1970s and 1980s. She continued to teach students there until moving to Colorado eight years ago, her sister, Peggy Weber said.
Sundstrom said Brockway was a precise and kind teacher who fostered a friendly environment in her classes that earned her many loyal students.
Brad Benn, who now teaches pottery classes himself, took his first session with Brockway and got “stuck” on the craft, he said.
“Besides being my first teacher, she was just a very good friend, and I could go to her with any questions about technique,” Benn said.
Brockway even donated her personal gas-fired kiln to the Edina Art Center before moving out of the state. It previously sat in her backyard and fired her own work, but as Brockway aged, poor eyesight kept her from continuing to throw plates, bowls, mugs and other pieces of ceramic.
Her work was shown repeatedly around the cities, including in the juried show at the Minnesota State Fair, and she was one of the featured artists in the Purple Door Potters, a group that has an annual sale around Thanksgiving, Weber said.
In a 1994 article in Craft Connection, a newspaper put out by the Minnesota Craft Council, Brockway said: “I like working in the medium of clay, making beautiful forms that can be used. … Lately I’m wanting to stretch my forms beyond only the utilitarian, into forms that might be more visually challenging: a higher handle, a smaller spout.”
Brockway was also an avid downhill skier until health issues prevented her from continuing to visit the slopes, Weber said.
She is survived by her husband, Robert Brockway, whom she met in the Twin Cities’ ULLR skiing club.
Brockway is also survived by her daughter Anne Waugaman and son David, sister Peggy Weber and four grandchildren.
A private memorial for family and friends will be held in mid-October.
Northern State 35, Concordia (St. Paul) 34: Wyatt Block’s 2-yard TD run and the PAT with 10 seconds remaining lifted the Wolves past the host Golden Bears. Block’s touchdown capped an 11-play, 72-yard drive by the Wolves, who trailed 24-7 in the second quarter. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire’s 34-yard field goal with three minutes, 32 seconds remaining gave the Golden Bears a 34-28 lead.
Winona State 31, Bemidji State 28: Cade Stenstrom rushed for two TDs and passed for 150 yards and a TD to help the host Warriors outlast the Beavers. Stenstrom’s 1-yard TD run and the PAT with two minutes, 10 seconds remaining gave the Warriors a 31-21 lead. The Beavers responded with an 11-play, 93-yard drive to pull within 31-28 with 18 seconds remaining but the Warriors recovered the ensuing kickoff.
Div. I-AA
North Dakota State 59, Murray State 6: The top-ranked Bison built a 42-3 lead in the first half and went on to defeat the host Racers in Murray, Ken. CharMar Brown ran for 97 yards and three TDs for the Bison.
South Dakota State 20, South Dakota 17 (OT): Amar Johnson’s 3-yard TD run in overtime lifted the host Jackrabbits to the victory. The Coyotes opened the OT with a 40-yard field goal.
Youngstown State 41, North Dakota 40 (OT): The host Penguins went first in OT and scored and then stopped North Dakota’s two-point conversion to hold on for the victory. The Penguins sent the game into OT on a 35-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
Div. III
Augsburg 35, St. Olaf 34 (OT): The host Auggies stopped a two-point conversion in overtime to outlast the Oles. The Auggies went first in the overtime and scored on a 25-yard pass from Ryan Harvey to Tyrone Wilson. It was Harvey’s fifth TD pass — the fourth to Wilson. After the Auggies’ PAT, the Oles scored on a 25-yard TD pass from Theo Doran to Braden Menz. But the Oles’ pass attempt for the conversion failed.
After splitting their two-game West Coast trip to begin the season, the Wolves improved to 2-1 with a 112-101 win over Toronto in their home opener. It was a wire-to-wire win that featured some strong bursts of play from the Wolves and other times when their decision-making was suspect. But those moments when they were on, specifically the start of the game and most of the third quarter, were enough to carry them against a shorthanded Raptors team that was without RJ Barrett, Bruce Brown and Immanuel Quickley.
Julius Randle had 24 points while Anthony Edwards had 24 on 21 shot attempts. Donte DiVincenzo had 16 off the bench. Nickeil Alexander-Walker left the game in the fourth quarter and did not return, though he was in the bench area for the final minutes after going to the locker room briefly.
The Wolves’ starting lineup had its best stretch of basketball on the season after that unit started off sluggish in the first two games. Mike Conley, who was 3-for-16 to open the year, hit two early threes to set the tone, though Conley would finish 2-for-8.
Donte DiVincenzo replaced him at point guard halfway through the quarter and continued the hot shooting from the point guard slot with three threes of his own. The Wolves forced five Toronto turnovers and had a 32-18 lead after one.
Coach Chris Finch toyed with some different lineup combinations in the first half as he had Conley and DiVincenzo begin the quarter together while having Joe Ingles run the point later in the quarter. It led to an uneven second, and the Wolves led 56-44 at halftime.
But the Wolves played inspired coming out of the break. Jaden McDaniels, who didn’t take a shot in the first half, had nine points in the opening minutes of the third. Edwards hit a pair of threes as they pushed their lead to 22. The Wolves weren’t sharp closing the night, and the Raptors had the game within right inside of two minutes, but the Wolves had built enough of a cushion.
Rudy Gobert. Gobert had 15 points and 13 rebounds and was the beneficiary of some lobs from his teammates like Edwards, Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Joe Ingles. Gobert also finished with four blocks.
Gobert had two blocks on one possession in the fourth quarter that got the crowd off its feet and Gobert pounding his chest. Gobert blocked D.J. Carton and Jamison Battle.
Star Tribune
Trump denigrates Detroit while appealing for votes in a suburb of Michigan’s largest city
NOVI, Mich. — Donald Trump further denigrated Detroit while appealing for votes Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in swing state Michigan.
”I think Detroit and some of our areas makes us a developing nation,” the former president told supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is ”great,” but he thinks it ”needs help.”
The Republican nominee for the White House had told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that the ”whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment drew harsh criticism from Democrats who praised the city for its recent drop in crime and growing population.
Trump’s stop in Novi, after an event Friday night in Traverse City, is a sign of Michigan’s importance in the tight race. Harris is scheduled for a rally in Kalamazoo later Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama on the first day that early in-person voting becomes available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20% of registered voters. Trump won the state in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden carried it four years later.
Michigan is home to major car companies and the nation’s largest concentration of members of the United Auto Workers. It also has a significant Arab American population, and many have been frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza after the attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
During his rally, Trump spotlighted local Muslim and Arab American leaders who joined him on stage. These voters ”could turn the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was banking on ”overwhelming support” from those voters in Michigan.
“When President Trump was president, it was peace,” said one of those leaders, Mayor Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights. ”We didn’t have any issues. There was no wars.”
While Trump is trying to capitalize on the community’s frustration with the Democratic administration, he has a history of policies hostile to this group, including a travel ban targeting Muslim countries while in office and a pledge to expand it to include refugees from Gaza if he wins on Nov. 5.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings