Recent and upcoming/Resume

29th International Sculpture Conference, Oct 2019, Open Studio Reception at Portland location and Little Boxes Exhibit at PNCA

One month artist residency, Macfarlane Studio, Whiteley Center, May 2019, campus of Friday Harbor Laboratory of University of Washington.

UnWedged, Oct 2018, an annual national juried exhibition at Pottery NW, juried by Julia Galloway

Pop Up Cultural Heritage Exhibit made its Kickstarter "tipping point"! And so, we went on to install it all!

"Like" it on our Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/popupculturalheritage

“Pop Up Cultural Heritage Exhibit: Setting a place at the table for Jewish culture”, March 25-May 1, 2014 at Bellevue City Hall Park Pavilion, Bellevue, Washington. This 20’ x 80’ collaborative installation featured concepts, photos, maps, artifacts, “rooms”, terra cotta and bronze sculpture, and explored 65 years of life and culture.

A project of Joan Rudd Sculpture Studio and Storefronts/Bellevue, presented by Shunpike, a 501(C)3 organization, and City of Bellevue Arts to cultivate understanding of Jewish heritage in Seattle/King County through art.

A catalogue of the Exhibit above was completed 2016 and copies of the Pop Up Cultural Heritage book, dedicated to the memory of my brother Nick, have been accepted by the libraries of the Whiteley Center/Friday Harbor Laboratories, the University of Washington Special Collections, the Oregon Jewish Museum, the Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Culture at UC Berkeley, the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA, the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, and now at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in NYC. The acknowledgement letter from the director of the YIVO Library and Archives says the book is "a valuable contribution to YIVO's collections and is greatly appreciated".

Staffed Tuesdays through Fridays 12-4 PM through May 1. Closed April 15 and again April 22 in honor of Passover.

FINDING REFUGE, FINDING HOME

"Sheynkayt", 2.0 (Beautifulness, version 2), "Vos vet blaybn" (What will remain)

I plan on a show of new work in sculpture in 2012-13. The work will consist of ten figurative groupings, separate figures united by their bases, and resting on individual pedestals. An equal number of complementary wall hanging reliefs will accompany them.

The images and texts we surround ourselves with do matter. The vitality and vigor of the terra cotta figures connect downwards, towards the earth. The chunky figures therefore appear attached, stable, and "grounded."

My sense of composition encompasses 19th century canons of beauty based on curve and reverse curve. At the same time, these economical figures have a 20th century sense of abstraction and a sense of movement of their own.

I have learned to carve "top down", to cut "stops" and "pop off" the scrap. I solve the location of the soles of the feet early on and carve the figure to match. When carving, if you change one thing, five or more other forms are affected.

My current work is tremendously benign. The theme is support, and not protection. The figures hold each other with strength and with lightness. Time appears not to end as the moment(s) depicted continues. Their "presence", as statues, is meant to represent eternity or timelessness.

The poetic titles, in Yiddish, are meant to open them up to a variety of interpretations. Two and three generations away from Yiddish speakers, my own identity is informed and defined by a collective memory of this language and its culture.

What does it mean to understand or illuminate art through a title from another language? There are things you can say in Yiddish which cannot be expressed in English. By joining language to art I am making connections which illustrate and enrich the understanding of a thousand year old culture, while living fully now, in the 21st century.

Email: joan.rudd@comcast.net


RESUME

Residencies

2014-2019, six consecutive years of month long, summer artist residencies in the Macfarlane Art Studio at the Whiteley Center located on the campus of the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Labs on San Juan Island.

Public Art

“Pop Up Cultural Heritage Exhibit: Setting a place at the table for Jewish culture” was on view March 25-May 1, 2014 at Bellevue City Hall Park Pavilion, Bellevue, Washington. This 20’ x 80’ collaborative installation featured concepts, photos, maps, artifacts, “rooms”, terra cotta and bronze sculpture, and explored 65 years of life and culture.

A project of Joan Rudd Sculpture Studio and Storefronts/Bellevue, presented by Shunpike, a 501(C)3 organization, and City of Bellevue Arts to cultivate understanding of Jewish heritage in Seattle/King County through art.

A catalogue of the Exhibit below was completed 2016 and copies of the Pop Up Cultural Heritage book, dedicated to the memory of my brother Nick, have been accepted by the libraries of the Whiteley Center/Friday Harbor Laboratories, the University of Washington Special Collections, the Oregon Jewish Museum, the Magnes Collection of Jewish Life and Culture at UC Berkeley, the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA, the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, and now at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in NYC. The acknowledgement letter from the director of the YIVO Library and Archives says the book is "a valuable contribution to YIVO's collections and is greatly appreciated".

Pop Up Cultural Heritage Exhibit made its Kickstarter "tipping point"! And so, we went on to install it all!

"Like" it on our Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/popupculturalheritage


  • METRO bus shelter mural program (8’ public murals): “A la Claire Fontaine” 2003, “Sweet Betsy from Pike” 2000, "Bonnie at Morn" 1999, "Minutn Fun Bitokhn" 1998, "Patshe, Patshe Kikhelekh"(16' wide commission) 1996, "Rode, Rode. Rane" 1995, "Oy! Vunder iber Vunder" 1995, "Penguins Waiting for the Bus" 1994

  • "A Garden for Sculpture", a temporary courtyard installation involving 14 sculptors and 8 landscape designers at Seattle Center's annual fall arts festival, Bumbershoot, September 4-7 1992, Seattle, WA

  • "Threading the Needle", 1989, an environmental, kinetic, interactive sculpture at Bumbershoot '89 (artist designed mini-golf funded by the King County Arts Commission and the Washington Arts Commission)

Juried Exhibitions

  • UnWedged , Oct 2018, an annual national juried exhibition at Pottery NW, juried by Julia Galloway

  • ART PORT TOWNSEND/EXPRESSIONS NORTHWEST Annual Juried Art Exhibition, juried by Gary Faigin. At the Northwind Arts Center, 2409 Jefferson Street, Port Townsend, WA., Aug 6- 28, 2011

  • Art on the Avenues, Wenatchee, Washington April 2011-April 2012

  • Picture the Musician:Portraits of Musicians by Northwest Artists", Wenatchee Valley Museum, October-December 2010

  • Art on the Avenues, Wenatchee, Washington April 2010-April 2011

  • Eastside Fine Arts Association, October-November 2006

  • Eastside Fine Arts Association, October-November 2005

  • Eastside Fine Arts Association, October-November 2004, juried by Gary Faigin and Margaret Davidson

  • Anacortes Art Festival, Exploring NW Realism, 2003, juried by Richard V. West

  • “Fifth Annual Modern Stone Age: Concrete Art” 2001, 2002, 2003 curated by Lynn DiNino

  • Arboretum Foundation Bench Competition 2000 for NW Flower & Garden Show Seattle, WA

  • Bumbershoot 1992, annual city arts festival, Seattle, WA

  • Bumbershoot 1988, annual city arts festival, Seattle, WA

  • Oregon Biennial 1985, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR

  • Artquake 1985, annual city arts festival, Portland, OR

  • Artquake 1979, annual city arts festival, Portland, OR

One and Two Person Shows

  • "Bitere hertsen zoln getreyst vern" (May bitter hearts be comforted), Kirkland City Hall, October 2-28, 2009

  • Carving into Clay, New Works", Gallery 63Eleven, Seattle, WA, January 12-February 6, 2008

  • "Carving in Clay", Recent work in sculpture, Manuel Izquierdo Gallery, PNCA, Portland, OR, May 4-31, 2006

  • "Minutn fun bitokhn" Drawings & Calligraphy for the Yiddish murals project at Temple Beth Am/Seattle, WA March 9-April 29, 1998

  • “Peaceful Art for Timeless Gardens”, Gardens and Sunspaces Gallery, Duvall, WA, Aug- Sept 1996

  • "Oy, vunder iber vunder!" Working drawings for METRO/Northend Jewish Community Center, Seattle, WA May 7-June 9, 1995

  • "Exhibition of Sculpture and Drawings", Northend Jewish Community Center, Seattle, WA November 17-December 20, 1991

  • "New Forms", Graystone Gallery, Portland, OR, Jan 6-February 3, 1985

  • "New Sculpture and Drawings, O'Connell Gallery, Portland, OR, May 20-June 10, 1982

  • "Figures & Space", Buckley Center Gallery, University of Portland,Portland, OR February 24-March 15, 1980

  • "Exhibition of Sculpture and Drawings" Mittleman Jewish Community Center, Portland, OR, June 4-30, 1978

Producer/Curator/Coordinator

  • "Mame Loshn NW", a community program for the advancement of Yiddish Education, 2002, 1999, 1998, 1997 at Meadowbrook Community Center, Seattle, WA

  • "Der Yiddisher Mikado", a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta with 22 actors from New York at the Museum of History and Industry, April 1997, Seattle, WA

  • "A Garden for Sculpture", a temporary courtyard installation involving 14 sculptors and 8 landscape designers at Seattle Center's annual fall arts festival, Bumbershoot, September 4-7, 1992, Seattle, WA

  • "Sculpture Garden", a temporary indoor installation involving 15 sculptors and 2 landscape designers at the Seattle Airport Hilton, Women in Horticulture Conference, February 22, 1992

Lecture Presentations

  • Seattle Women's Caucus for Art Northwest Women Artists Lecture, "Economy, line quality, clarity, and vitality," November 1996

  • Reed College Alumni Association, Portland, Oregon, "The Thinking Gardener," February 1994

  • NW Flower and Garden Show, Convention Center, Seattle, WA, "Sculpture for the Garden", February 1994

  • University of Washington Faculty Auxiliary Garden Club, "Sculpture for the Garden”, April 1993

  • Women in Horticulture Conference by the Associationfor Women in Landscaping, "Sculpture in the Garden, Accessory or Focal Point?", February 1992

  • International Sculpture '90, The Smithsonian, Washington D.C., "Casting and Building in Masonry Materials: Cheap, strong, versatile", parallel program lecturer, June 1990

Editor and Founder

  • "Cast Stone/Concrete/Plaster Sculptors' Network and Newsletter," June 1990 -December 1993

Selected Group Shows

  • Oasis Gallery, Seattle, Wa. fall 2008

  • Anacortes and Shoreline Art Festivals, summer 2002

  • “Summer Show" Urban Garden Habitat, July 14-December 31, 2001

  • “From My Front Porch”, Confluence Gallery, June 4-July 18, 2001

  • “Art for the Garden”, Phinney Art Center, May 4-May 25, 2001

  • Concrete Sculpture, N. Seattle Community College, Jan 9-Feb 2, 2000

  • Northwest Stone Sculptors at the Center for Urban Horticulture, Seattle, Wa, September of 1994

  • Color the Children/Nelleke Nix Gallery/Kirkland, Wa./December 1993

  • Indoor-Outdoor Sculpture Show/ Graystone Gallery/Portland, Or./ September 1989

  • Art for Children and the Young at Heart/ Graystone Gallery/Portland, Or./ December, 1988

  • Beaux and Eros/ Graystone Gallery/ Portland, Or./ January 1988

  • Hearts and Flowers/ Graystone Gallery/ Portland, Or./ February 1987 and January 1986

  • Museum Art School Alumni Exhibition/ Portland, Or./ September, 1984

  • Holiday Show/ Howell Street Gallery/ Seattle, Wa./ November 1981

  • Nudes in the Attic/ Attic Gallery/ Portland, Or./ January 1980 & 1981

  • Portrait and Figure Drawing Show/ Mayer Gallery/ Marylhurst Education Center/ Portland, Or./ January 1980

Graphic Design/Technical Illustration/Print Production

  • Technical Illustrator I & II, Documentation, 1984-88, Mentor Graphics Corporation, Beaverton, Oregon

Corporate Art Collection purchasing budget of $80,000

  • Chairperson, Art Committee, 1987-88, Mentor Graphics Corporation (selected quality work by recognized professionals), received annual award, Beaverton Arts Commission

Teaching Experience

  • Path with Art, Seattle nonprofit working with adults in transitional housing, six-week sculpture project, City Hall Park show, fall 2008

  • Northwest Stone Sculptors' Association annual symposium, "3-D Design" at Camp Brotherhood, Arlington, Wa, summer 2009

  • Experimental College, University of Washington Summer Workshop: Outdoor Sculpture in Concrete 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

  • Shoreline Community College Weekend Workshop, May 2003

  • Pratt Fine Arts Center, Seattle, Wa., quarterly workshops "Moldmaking" & "Outdoor Sculpture in Concrete", 1988-1990

  • Portland Community College, adult evening classes, "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" 1982-83

  • Portland Public Schools, Talented and Gifted Program, 1982-1983

  • Multnomah County Educational Service District, Talented and Gifted Program 1982-83

Education

  • Studio Lapis, Anat Golandski, Pietrasanta, Italy, July, 2008

  • Tip Toland, clay sculpture, Seattle Fine Arts Academy,fall 2004

  • Viktor Sirotin, life drawing, Seattle Fine Arts Academy, fall 2003

  • Rich Beyer Sculpture Studio to study carving and casting, 1991

  • Phillip Levine Sculpture Studio to study life drawing, 1990

  • Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass, Colorado, 1979

    • studied sculpture with Carolyn Diffenbaugh

  • Pacific Northwest College of Art, BFA/ Sculpture, 1977

    • studied sculpture with Manuel Izquierdo

    • studied ceramics with Tom Coleman

  • Portland State University, BA 1969

    • studied sculpture with Fred Littman

    • studied ceramics with Ray Grimm

  • Reed College, 1965-66

    • studied calligraphy and art history with Lloyd Reynolds

Email: joan.rudd@comcast.net