Margaret River artist and sculptor Lauren Rudd has been creating beautiful sculptural objects out of clay for over 30 years and loves every minute of it. Her portrayal of the female form with exaggerated curves and flowing movement aim to capture a moment, a small snapshot if you like of a small scene that is in fact part of a bigger moving picture. Lauren Rudd uses patterns and overlays that tell a unique story on each piece and her experimentation with finishing glazes give her sculptures another layer of individuality.

Read the below Question and Answer feature to learn more about Lauren Rudd.

Getting to Know….Lauren Rudd

When did you first feel the desire to be artistic and realise you had talent?

I was drawing and making things from a young age. I remember the clay lady with her caravan coming to my school. I went to see her at recess and lunch so I could play with the clay.

Where did you learn your art?

I went to Claremont School of Art when I was 17

What inspires you most?

I love looking at books of the masters. Looking at Michelangelos work and being awestruck. Just wondering how he and others achieved such works so long ago. Living in Margaret River is also my inspiration, the bush and the beach. Being surrounded by such beauty.

What message are you sending?

I am trying to show movement. As if my sculpture is a still frame of a larger picture.

Describe your studio…

I became a draftsperson so that I could design our home. Its a townsize block but my husband and I made sure that I would have a studio here. I have a room off the southern courtyard. I keep my kilns, moulds, and clay in there. I mostly work out in the courtyard. There is a pond with ferns to look at. I just play my music and get lost in my own world.

Describe your typical day of creating art…

There isnt one. I usually have 3 or more pieces on the go. I uncover which ever piece I feel like working on.

What mediums do you use and why?

I fell in love with clay and have never moved on. The freedom that clay invites you to partake in. Open the bag, grab a handful and off you go. To create an object from the earth is a wonderful feeling.

What are you working on now?

A series of wall mounted flying figures. Some male torsos to partner my female ones and I’m looking at designing some spiral figures.

What do you love most about what you do?

Living a creative life.

Where can you see yourself in 10 years?

Hopefully I would have gone to Europe to see the great sculptures and architecture. I want to combine my passion for sculpture and knowledge of architecture to enable me to create sculptural components for buildings.

Artist Statement

Margaret River Artist/Sculptor Lauren Rudd found her artistic passion with the use of clay while studying her Diploma of Fine Art and Design 1986-1991. Lauren Rudd’s female torso sculptures are stylised with exaggerated curves and aim to capture a slightly surreal glimpse of reality. Her love and experimentation with clay textures and finishing glazes give another layer of individuality to her sculptures.

Artist Biography

Lauren Rudd was born in England in 1968 and moved to Australia in 1974. From an early age Lauren was fascinated in constructing three dimensional objects. As her school did not offer art classes at the time, she enrolled in night art classes. Inspired by her art teachers Lauren Rudd went on to tertiary study and obtain her Diploma of Fine Art at Claremont School of Art 1986 -1991. So, at the age of 17, her training in drawing and sculpture began. Lauren Rudd soon developed her lifetime passion in the sculpture of the female form and fell in love with the physicality of clay. Her aim is to evoke motion in inanimate objects while working through exaggerated curves to capture a slightly surreal glimpse of reality. Each new piece begins with a mold and is worked and sculptured in many stages, often with two different types of clay and finally decorated to give each one a unique, individual and very feminine personality. Lauren Rudd moved to Margaret River in 1998 with her two sons lured by the inspiration she finds in both the local beach and bush environments.

Art Education

1986 -1991 Diploma Fine Art Claremont School of Art ; Major in sculpture, minor : printmaking
1995 -1996 Albany Tafe : Studio units in Sculpture and Printmaking
1997 Studio Ceramics – St Bridgits College

Makers Notes

When I am using clay I work mainly in two different ways. Ether working the clay knowing that this is a one-off piece and the finished result will be fired. Or I make a piece with the aim of taking a mould of the finished form. If a mould is taken it means that the object can be hand pressed into the mould a number of times to form a small series. I choose to only reproduce to a maximum of 12 times. Each reproduction is made by me following a number of steps. I begin by rolling out the clay with a rolling pin then hand pressing it into the mould. The clay remains in place until the desired firmness has been reached. When it has been removed the surface is worked in various ways bringing out and developing the piece. I then slowly dry the work then it is fired.