Lauren Rudd - Artists - Sculptures

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.