reflection on the role of early influences and odd jobs
Born in NYC, Gault was part of a two month all city young artists emerging talent symposium at the Whitney Museum in NYC 1967 and in 1968 had language study in Paris and chance to immerse in art between classes.
She worked with the rocket scientists drafting integrate circuit boards for ultraviolet spectrometer instruments for NASA JPL space craft at the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics during undergraduate years until 1975 at University of Colorado Boulder.
In clay, she studied with Betty Woodman who became a life long mentor. She also had a long residency at Aspen's Anderson Ranch 1971-2. However her degree in Communication and Broadcast media brought her early on into that field.
After a life changing six month journey overland through South America in the days when sporadic ham radio phone calling the took hours to relay north, and no internet, the abundance of folk art and ceramic touched her heart. Trouble was clear drinking water near impossible to find. When she got a chance to work for a time with Ron Rivera in Nicaragua on the clay pot filters, she already knew first hand the situation is everyday miserable in a way many in developed countries couldn't imagine. It is complex. Ron Rivera died in mid-life working on it due to risks of exposure to malaria he took to travel and help. She hears the cry of the people today and is amazed that the situation of access to clear drinking water seems not YET to have been solved despite accomplishments like the Webb telescope. We can do this!
Not too long after she found teachers of Ken Stevens. PhD and Carlton Ball clay and glaze wizards at University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington. Turns out much of our grad level material came from industry and the top \ceramic engineering schools in USA at the time. Tacoma was close to University of Washington and Pottery Northwest so she could learn and later practice in the clay communities of the region. It was in grad level class she started asking if there was anyway to stop cracking in the clay. She heard all the known cautions and best practices. Her first trials of pulp and clay bodies which were a flop for several reasons she knows now but didn't know then! No wonder.
Nevertheless.. She met James Melchert who influenced her MFA thesis. At that time she was wondering if there was such a thing as a feminine awareness which would be distinct from the dominant masculine. This was a transition time of so called women's liberation. Her day job during that time was as graphic designer paste up artist for the University publications and the print shop as well as Teaching Assistant at the University.
Thereafter, she settled in Queen Anne neighborhood near by Seattle's Pottery Northwest and honed her skills at jobs like art director in an ad agency. Because of her skill in pen-ink and pencil draftsmanship and digital she worked at Seattle Silicon with first digital versions for the next gen of circuit maps to digital in early stage Pagemaker (pre CAD). She also worked at a newsmagazine Seattle Weekly doing ad design, layout and pasteup and camera ready prep. All the while teaching ceramics and selling ware in craft fairs and studio sales. For about 6 months she was successful manager of Fireworks Gallery which is where she got to know Toshiko Takaezu in person for the first time early 1980's. As you see she was laying a foundation of understanding both commercial and fine art leading to her establishing a full time pottery, tile and ceramic art production of ceramic art in studio in downtown Pioneer Square Seattle. By the late 1980s she was producing for clients like fine art galleries and Nieman Marcus department stores nationwide.
