Kelsie Rudolph

I am continuously searching for commonalities across cultural and social systems, woven between travel and daily life at home. How we exist in our relationships and relate to the world around us is an endlessly complex and emotional experience, hinged tightly to the objects and spaces we encounter. There is a multitude of reciprocal associations available to us at any given moment, from the solitude of a standard staircase to the communal encounters of a public restroom. These places enhance or minimize our engagement and awareness. My work breaks cross cultural feelings of confusion, solitude, or wonder down into color, material and form. Simple material choices like ceramic, latex and faux fur are comparable to human characteristics like dependability, flexibility and comfort, making the objects emotionally relatable. Formal considerations like the scale of a wall or sink reference the regularity of architectural space we often exist within. The color palette and pattern evoke a sense of joy, ease or tension. If we can begin to relate to others and ourselves through objects and mundane materials, the more our personal reality begins to feel validated. My work is an abstract exercise in this kind of relatability, comparing our emotional experiences to the basic materials and spaces we exist with each day, providing us with a renewed sense of reciprocity and solace to our surroundings.

-- Kelsie Rudolph

Kelsie Rudolph is a ceramic artist based in Bozeman, MT. She received her BFA from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point in 2013. She then apprenticed with wood fire potter Simon Levin in Gresham, WI. She graduated from Montana State University with her MFA in 2018. She had extensive opportunities to travel to China, Taiwan, South Korea, Cuba and Brazil during these years, working and exhibiting in clay. These travel experiences have shaped her works focus on commonalities across social and cultural systems reflected through abstracted architectonic and utilitarian forms. Rudolph is currently continuing her research as an assistant to Hun Chung Lee in South Korea during fall 2018, followed by a spring residency at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center.