Rosette Gault Ph.D, MFA
Rosette Gault, Ph.D., M.F.A. became world known for her seminal discoveries in paperclay ceramic art and sustainable materials. Her contribution included a US patent, ceramic and visual art (more than 130 exhibitions), writing (4 books and more than 40 articles). music, and teaching (more than 100 workshops and masterclasses in ceramic and paperclay) here and abroad.
Decades of art research: A brief story
During her first 20 years of studio production and research beging about 1970, Gault asked questions like what is the matter with this clay?
Everyone who works with traditional clay..... knows the risk of cracking when it dries and shrinks, when it's being transported and again, when it's fired in a kiln. The litany of compensation methods includes expensive practices like long firing time as fuel use, multiple firings, hours of slow and even drying, wrapping, and more.
In 1990 she managed to get reliable and distinctive results with her methods of compounding, of assembly, forming, firing and more. About 85% of the traditional paradigm for art and design was open to question.
The next step of Gault's work was to identify, extract and isolate the principles to demonstrate and teach- the enabled artists and designers could convert their favorite clays and local recycle paper pulp and put it to the worlds largest field study without reservation to learn the truth and to share it which many artists joined in with the massive teaching effort involved.
Her exhibition, and subsequent teaching and publishing would initiate and inspire saving of time and money. Most important, artists built works impossible in the past. All this concurrent to advance in software and hardware for what was then called new media. Her research led to the first artist handbook enabling artists and ceramic sculptors to use her methods and variations of paperclay (1991) the first website for paperclay in 1995, the first 2 hour teaching video-DVD of a paperclay workshop before Utube existed, the first commercially prepared paperclay (P'Clay®) among other accomplishments. Her in person teaching to artists and engineers opened doors outside the field of art and engineering with sustainable materials, bio /nano ceramic compounds and more. A few of her books are Paperclay Art and Practice: The New Ceramics (UPenn/Bloomsbury) 2015 translated to Chinese published 2023, Paperclay published in English and German 1996, and Think by Hand Hundreds of Possibilities for Art (2004), and earlier- Paperclay for Ceramic Sculptors- A studio companion 1992-2014
Academic awards include 2013 Ph. D (University of Sunderland, UK National Centre for Ceramics and Glass, Innovation in Paperclay Ceramic Art and Design), 1978 M.F.A Ceramic Art (University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA). 1975 BA. Communication Media Arts, (University of Colorado, Boulder).
Threshold of Light (window installation at the downtown Seattle Nordstrom's Flagship Store on Pine Street in 2012. or her display at Sea-Tac Airport on sustainable ceramic design for paperclay water filtration and medicinal application.
Collectors
Her work is in public and private collections in Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Czech Republic, UK , Italy, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and more. Exhibitions in Hungary, Czech Republic, Italy, Denmark, London UK, New Zealand, Australia.
Collectors throughout the USA in 1980's may have discovered her limited editions commissioned by ten Nieman-Marcus locations, and more than 30 fine craft galleries in USA. In addition to her open studio shows at Pioneer Square artwalks in Seattle- 1980's, she maintained studios in Pioneer Square, Fremont, Ballard, a pottery, tile and art booth at Pike Place Market Seattle and neighborhood Fremont and Ballard. She served in leadership at Fireworks Gallery, Pottery Northwest, and Seward Park Art studio and won awards at the Pacific Northwest Bellevue Art Museum Summer Fair. In addition to long and short term residencies/exhibitions at Canada’s Banff Centre for the Arts, Europe, Asia/India, New Zealand, and Australia. She's exhibited/presented masterclasses everywhere from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the Royal School in Copenhagen Denmark, the Aalto university in Finland, and other institutions in Sweden, Italy, Hungary, Denmark, Germany, India, and Australia, from Harvard to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, University of Oregon in Eugene, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Iowa State University, An Engineering for Sustainable Water Solutions at SMU, Dallas, Texas, Harvard, University of Hawaii, and more. Among the international shows featuring some diverse examples of art expression and imagination for from we never could see built in traditional ceramics, Particle and Wave, Paperclay Illuminated toured museums in Arizona, Utah, Missouri and Massachusetts in 2020-2021.
Creative Work
As composer some of her original music is on Soundcloud and published on five compact discs.
Born in New York City she grew up in Princeton, NJ and Maine. Nowadays she divides time between Canada, Maine and the Pacific Northwest. She's been a nominated elected member of Northwest Designer Craftartists since 1983.
Present
She is in preparation of a book Healing Clay as a call for research in sustainable materials integrated design technologies of paperclay (www.paperclaylab.net) remedies in applications beyond the field of art. Future research include seeking option known as woven man-made nano mesh fiber (which may be highly profitable cheap) but the eco-risk of this nano-mesh by product increasing contribution to PM2, in air and water is now becoming a measurable harm. Research on options for air or virus filtration, medical, structural and refractory applications is needed.