Ruthanne Tudball


All of my work is thrown, manipulated and assembled while freshly thrown on the wheel in an attempt to capture the soft organic quality of the clay and preserve that softness in the finished piece. Soda vapour glazing in a wood/gas-fired kiln emphasises the marks and rhythms of making. Nothing is hidden.

Manipulating soft clay on a revolving wheel and feeling the material respond to the merest touch is like setting out on an exciting journey for me.  The dialogue which goes on between the potter and the clay is carried on through the use of the pots.  You pour, eat, store, serve and drink from them, and sometimes you simply contemplate them.  I am inspired by the evolving landscape, the rhythms and creative forces of the earth and by the dance of the human body, all of which keep me thinking about the life in a pot made of clay.

We are inherently defined by what we do and what we potters do with clay identifies who we are.  I see my work as a potter as a way of life that celebrates the beauty of the world around me.

Born  1945 California, USA

Education 
1987-89  Post Graduate Diploma in Ceramics, Goldsmiths’ College, London
1971-74  BA (Hons) English, Further Education Teaching Certificate

Awards
2008  Arts Council Grant to travel to China and attend the IAC conference
2007  Arts Council Grant to travel to S. Korea to work and demonstrate

Solo exhibitions
2009  Lantic Gallery, Tiverton, Devon 
Centre de Creation de La Borne, France
Grapevine at Burnham Market, Norfolk, UK
2007  Grapevine Gallery, Norwich, Norfolk
2006  Bettles Galelry, Ringwood, Hampshire
2005  Contemporary Ceramics, London

Selected recent exhibitions
2010  Oxford Ceramics Gallery May Exhibition and NewWorks.  
Contemporary Applied Art, Solo Focus Exhibition. July
“Teapots”, Makers Guild in Wales, at Craft in the Bay
“The Art of Ceramic Decoration”, Keramickcentrum Tiendschuur, NL
2009  “Cup”, Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Devon, UK
“Salt of the Earth”, Salthouse 09, North Norfolk Exhibition Project,UK
2008  ‘Afresh’, Gallery Top, Derbyshire
‘Celebrating Salt and Soda’, Octagon Gallery, Whichford
‘Salt and Soda and Penland’, Rye Gallery, New York, USA
2006  Alpha House Gallery, Sherborne, Derbyshire
 ‘A Pinch of Salt’, Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2005  ‘Krug oder Kanne’, Galerie Handwerk, Munich, Germany
2004  Third International Ceramics Biennial, Brasschaat, Belgium

Collections
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Ceramics Collection, University of Wales, Aberstwyth
Adolf Egner Collection, Germany
Yingge County Ceramics Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

Selected publications
2009  Contemporary Ceramics, A Global Survey .Emmanuel Cooper.  
The Art of Ceramic Decoration, Artists Share their Secrets, Mels Boom, Uitgever Publisher, Netherlands
2004  ‘Making Marks. Discovering the Ceramic Surface’, by Robin Hopper

Exhibitions

Archive

2010

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