At the ART PORT TOWNSEND Opening of "Expressions Northwest", 13th Annual Juried Art Show, August 5, 2011, Joan received a

MERIT AWARD for "Di tfile di shtile", (The Quiet Prayer), Juror Gary Faigin (Critic, arts writer and curator in Seattle).

Nice things assorted people said to Joan at that Port Townsend opening:

"So much positive emotion.

Hope!"

"I like the blockiness, like a wood carving.

So much emotion. Compassion depicted.

That is really hard to do and really rare.

Honest.

Not finicky.

People are "engaged" with each other. Connected."

"Forcefulness.

Solidity."

"It's nice to see your family (gesturing at work)."

"Like people who have been married for a long, long time.

Communicate by gesture, by propinquity."

"Nice vibe. People are really together.

Like that it is not perfect. All the little imperfections of life.

Symbiosis."

PROPOSAL IN DEVELOPMENT – A Figurative Retrospective in Clay/ Joan Rudd

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?

I want to have show connecting clay “craft” work and clay “fine” art. Currently there are no gallery venues which both stretch the potential of clay used for figurative and fine art while simultaneously putting fine art square into the pottery business.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO DO IT?

Teaching pottery making as a craft is a different animal than using clay and related media as a vehicle to draw, paint, and sculpt (the so called fine arts). The distinction requires education in order to appreciate the difference in how the medium can be used. Narrative art can at least be representational, though not necessarily realistic.

thrown pot with “paper doll” figures painted on with iron oxide Rudd 1968

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT THAT THIS PROJECT BE DONE? It is important that this project be done before the sculptural arts are completely subsumed by 3D CAD.

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO DO IT?

I would like to organize a show around figurative work in clay for September 2019 or wherever there is space. I would include my own work as well as (possibly) those of select others. It might be simpler to illustrate the stated concepts and varied techniques with my own work’s path over the past 50 years.

DESCRIBE YOUR OBJECTIVES AND HOW YOU WILL ATTAIN THEM. TIMELINE.

Invite curator March 2019. Call for artists May 2019. Jurying/curating July 2019. Delivery September 2019. Installation October 2019. Takedown November 2019.

HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?

The show costs will be limited to moving and installation support, honorarium for a curator, publicity, as well as costs of a reception. Total: $5000.

WHAT ADDITIONAL RESOURCES DO YOU NEED TO SUPPORT THE PROJECT?

Office support and publicity outreach, installation assistance.

WHY ARE YOU THE ONE TO DO IT?

I am interested in keeping the craft of sculpting alive.

I have fifty years of experience in depicting the human figure in (and on the surface of) clay, and the same number of years exhibiting my work.

incised unfired clay relief with ballet dancers Rudd 2018

WHAT SPECIAL CREDENTIALS OR EXPERIENCE DO YOU HAVE? IDENTIFY THE RESOURCES YOU WILL BRING TO THE PROJECT.

Clay modeling and carving. Stone carving. Wood carving. Welding. Drawing. Stucco fabrication. Moldmaking. Casting in “cast stone” and in bronze. BA 1969, BFA Sculpture 1977 from the Pacific NW College of Art. Have curated and organized shows for Bumbershoot (1992) and Storefronts (2014). See resume for more info.

WHAT GOOD WILL COME FROM IT?

There is a vacuum of knowledge about traditional sculpture techniques (modeling in clay, carving in stone and wood, mold making and casting. (“Cast stone” or concrete as well as aluminum or bronze). Unless art school trained, with a minor or major in sculpture, basic principles of 3D design as well as technical sculptural methods are not generally well understood in our geographic NW area. While Gage Academy fills the void for realistic and hyper realistic representational sculpture instruction, there are other ways of sculpting where the end result is not known before beginning a new work. This allows for more content and expressiveness.

See www.joanruddsculpture.com

“Gelibte” (Beloved) (solid, carved) terra cotta Rudd 2017

Cross sectional approach to beginning a modeled, not carved, figure

WHAT PROBLEMS ARE BEING ADDRESSED? WHY ARE THESE PROBLEMS SIGNIFICANT, AND TO WHOM?

There is a significant void in being able to understand and appreciate the technical requirements of figurative sculpture. An entire generation of local clay artists would be exposed to the affects of a lifetime of humanistic figure studies through this show of ceramic sculpture. Historically, humanism “is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively.”

HOW WILL YOU EVALUATE ITS SUCCESS? HOW AND WHEN?

Get reviews. Invite galleries. Teach a workshop. Have a residency. I plan to disseminate the results of my project by means of a public lecture, a website, and a lavishly illustrated book. The lecture would hopefully be in association with the UW 3D department, and the website I would construct myself, as well as designing and producing a limited edition book. My last photo book about a Pop Up Cultural Exhibit was accepted by a half dozen libraries.

CONSIDER MEASURES OF ASSESSMENT

Websites at art departments and artist(s) photo books to libraries.

Illustrate with:

Khosn/Kallah” (Bridegroom and Bride) carved clay, cast in bronze

Mourners carved clay cast in bronze Rudd 2005

Slab pot with incised male dancing figures Rudd 2018

Email: joan.rudd@comcast.net