RUDY AUTIO

Missoula, MT • BIO

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KATE SCHROEDER

Kansas City, MO • BIO

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CHAD STEVE

Tequesta, FL • BIO

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KELSEY WICKWIRE

St. Ignatius, MT • BIO

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ARTIST BIOS

RUDY AUTIO

Rudy Autio's impact on American ceramic arts in the second half of the 20th century was both groundbreaking and highly influential. Born in Butte, Montana, in 1926, Autio lived in his native state throughout most of his career. He started the ceramics department at the University of Montana and ran the program for twenty-eight years. Prior to his appointment at UM, Autio was a founding resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana.

While Autio is best known for his figurative ceramic vessels, he worked in a variety of materials and other media-including painting and printmaking, as illustrated by the work here. Autio received a Tiffany Award in Crafts in 1963, the American Ceramic Society Art Award in 1978, and a National Endowment grant in 1980. In 1981 he was the first recipient of the Governor's Award and named outstanding visual artist in the state of Montana. Autio died in 2007.

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KATE SCHROEDER

Kate Schroeder's work is inspired by the emotional impact of collecting objects-the reasons we collect them, and the significance of the ones we choose. She celebrates the concept of "home" and the integral use of nature within our domestic environments. Her interest in light-the way it enhances our living spaces, its importance with respect to creativity and mental health-is reflected in her illuminated sculptures.

Schroeder is a professional artist residing in Kansas City, Missouri. She earned a BFA in Sculpture and Ceramics from the University of Central Missouri and an MFA, also emphasizing Sculpture and Ceramics, from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She has work in collections around the globe. Before transitioning to a full-time artist, Schroeder spent nearly a decade as an educator working for universities, art institutes, and community colleges.

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CHAD STEVE

With a dual focus on innovation and function, Chad Steve treats each of his vessels as a small sculpture-individually wheel­thrown with fine porcelain, then decorated with a combination of slip and harvested sands. After bisque firing, each piece is lightly glazed and high fired in an atmospheric soda firing. The forms are simple and effortlessly functional, uncomplicated and approachable. The surfaces are spontaneous with natural variations transitioning between land and water.

Steve was born and raised in Lake Mills, WI. He received his BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and his MFA from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Steve has instructed students at a variety of institutions such as Hawaii Potter's Guild, Honolulu Art Museum, Montana State University, and Western Montana University. He is currently the Director of Ceramics & Sculpture at Lighthouse Art Center in Tequesta, Florida.

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KELSEY WICKWIRE

Working with pastel and color pencil, Kelsey Wickwire creates images that evoke wide open spaces in the hazy, liminal light of the sun rising or setting. She draws on ecology, archetypal symbolism, and dreams to visually explore relationships humans have with one another and the world around them. Using distinctly Western imagery, she aims to eschew the modern "cowboy myth" of rugged individualism in favor of one steeped in interconnectedness.

Wickwire is a self-taught multi-disciplinary artist whose work is imbued with the landscapes, inhabitants, and stories of the regions she's known up and down the American West. Having long worked as an illustration and graphic designer, she recommitted to her studio art practice in 2021, currently focusing on pastel and color pencil works on paper. She lives and works in the foothills of the Mission Mountains of Western Montana with her partner and two dogs.

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