Ann Ruhr Pifer
St. Paul's chichi Grand Hand Gallery plans to open a second shop in Napa, California in June.
The new venture will showcase many of the same Minnesota and Northern California artisans which the shop presently showcases, among them Minnesota-based fiber artist Tim Harding, painter Sarah Wieben, potter Jason Trebs and jeweler Emily Johnson. California stars include Micah Schwaberow, known for his Japanese-style woodblock prints, and Jerry Kermode whose turned-redwood bowls and wine accessories attract an international clientele.
Trendy Napa was a natural expansion site for gallery owner Ann Ruhr Pifer, who has family in the area and artist friends in San Francisco and environs. After scouting Santa Fe, N.M., and other high-end tourist destinations, Pifer picked Napa as the most promising expansion site in part because it is "something of a second-home for me already," she said.
