Minnesota Women Ceramic Artists is a professional organization that supports

ceramic artists who identify as women in Minnesota. MNWCA provides its members opportunities for exhibiting, networking and mentoring throughout their ceramic careers. MNWCA furthers the creative and professional development of its members.

 
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Monica Rudquist

Monica Rudquist Clay, St Catherine University

www.monicarudquist.com

 

Member profile details

First name
Monica
Last name
Rudquist
Your Company Name
Monica Rudquist Clay, St Catherine University
 

Contact Data

 

Art Involvement and Photos

Art Involvement
  • Artist
  • Educator
  • Arts-related Business/Organization
Photo of Member
Photo of Artwork 1
 

Artist Info

Artist Bio
I’ve worked with clay for most of my life. My father was a painter and I grew up surrounded by art of all kinds. I spent many afternoons at his studio or down the hall in the ceramics studio where I first got to work with clay. By the time I was 12, I took my first wheel class, and I was hooked.

I attended Macalester College in St.Paul, Mn and studied with clay artists, Gail Kristensen and Ron Gallas receiving a BFA with a double Major in Art and French. For graduate school I went to Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan where I studied with Jun Kaneko and received my MFA.

I have worked with clay for over 30 years in my own studio and have always had my hand in teaching on some level. I currently teach and work in my studio at St Catherine University where I am able to interact with students on a daily basis.

I make sculptural, functional objects that are meant to be used. This balance is an important aspect of my work. It is very important to me that each piece has the ability to function.

Each piece is made individually. I use porcelain clay which I throw on a potter’s wheel to form the parts; bowls, cylinders, spouts etc... These parts are then altered by stretching the clay with my fingers and/or by cutting and piecing together the parts to create new forms. Each piece is glazed and high- fired in a gas kiln. Everything is oven safe and dishwasher proof.



Current Artist Statement

Functional objects have always fascinated me. I love forming a piece of clay on the wheel while it is in a fluid state and I am compelled to create forms which retain this fluidity and gesture after they are fired. I am curious about how far I can push the clay, to test the limits of this material.

Cutting and assembling thrown forms allows me to begin a dialogue with the clay that spurs more questions and responses to the developing forms by creating new juxtapositions in surprising places. I strive to create work that explores the space between, while remaining connected to the tradition of the wheel, leading the viewer to consider my work in relation to function and sculptural form.

I recently returned from a trip to Spain and the Netherlands where I found myself surrounded by both, the long traditions and histories of clay work as well as new and surprising methods of work. The overall theme that I saw was texture and pattern in everything from tiles at the Alhambra to Delftware in the Netherlands. This has led to new questions and observations in my current work about texture and pattern.
Clay used
  • Terracotta
  • Porcelain
  • Raku
Type of work
  • Functional
  • Sculptural
  • Installation
Firing range/type
  • Gas, high-fire oxidation
  • Gas, high-fire reduction
  • Electric, high-fire oxidation
  • Raku
Methods/techniques
  • Throwing
  • Thrown and altered
  • Handbuilding
  • Other
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