reflection on the role of early influences and odd jobs
Born in NYC, Gault was included in a two month summer symposium that met daily all city high school artists emerging talent at the Whitney Museum in NYC 1967. This was an extraordinary time to go to the galleries and studios. In 1968 thanks to her grandmother also an artist who had saved up to make sure her grandchildren would be exposed to European art in person, she studied French in Paris with chance to immerse in art of the city of Paris 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 where she earned a BA degree in Communication and Broadcast media studies with courses in astrogeophysics and biology while studying ceramics outside of school
In Boulder, she studied with Betty Woodman who became a life long mentor and inspiration to the end. She also had a long residency at Aspen's Anderson Ranch 1971-2 during a time out of school.
Not long after graduation she continued study of Spanish, ceramics, art, and culture, on 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. There was no internet, the abundance of creativity, imagination and art was a wonder. Trouble was clear drinking water near impossible to find and huge gap between haves and have nots.
When she got a chance to work for a time with Ron Rivera in Nicaragua on the clay pot filters for all people not just the rich, she already knew first hand the complex challenges he and many have been hoping to solve. Ron Rivera died in mid-life working on it due to risks of exposure to malaria on his travels.
How can the situation of access to clear drinking water not YET be solved despite far more technical and costly accomplishments like the Webb telescope.
We can do this!
Not too long after she found teachers Ken Stevens. PhD and Carlton Ball clay and glaze wizards at University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington. Turns out much of our grad level technical ceramics study material came from industry and the top\ceramic engineering schools in USA at the time. Tacoma was near enough to University of Washington and Pottery Northwest Seattle. 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. Everyone knows them today. Her first trials of pulp and clay bodies which were a flop however because lack of mixing tools, and lack of any known advantage other fibers like nylon which is inert- used for green strength.
Nevertheless... in art, she met James Melchert whose conceptual ceramic influenced her MFA thesis to do with awareness states and whether there was any difference between male-female that would be why women were discouraged and excluded from the art world. This was a transition time of so called women's liberation. Many actually believed women just were not smart enough to become artists... biologically. It was a time when activists like the Guerrilla Girlz who wore gorilla heads- brilliant anonyminity- challenged this. There were all kinds of nonsense notions to overcome. Nevertheless the formal training in art speak- and the formal training in technical matters was priority to learn in order to become an artist teacher. Even then few women were offered appointments- referrals were to the males in the group not the women.
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 graphic art skills at jobs like art director in an ad agency. Because of her skill in pen-ink and pencil draftsmanship from working at LASP (Boulder) and digital she worked at Seattle Silicon preparing the first digital versions 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 met Toshiko Takaezu in person for the first time early 1980's but would not meet her again until 1996 Finland conference where they were both presenting.
She was laying a solid foundation of understanding what it takes to merge 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.
