Rudy Autio

American
(1926–2007)

Aurora
1998

Stoneware
4 x 24.5 x 24.5 in.
Gift of the Nora Eccles Treadwell Foundation
1999.19

In Aurora, Rudy Autio has altered the traditional form of the platter by folding over the rim to create a frame for the depiction of the mythological story of Aurora, the goddess of dawn, racing across the sky in her chariot to announce the arrival of a new day. Autio’s precise linework portrays Aurora and her horse intertwined and floating against the darkened background and rim of the platter. Here the merging of form with carefully incised lines results in a sculptural narrative.

An important figure in abstract expressionist ceramics, Rudy Autio is unusual in that he never abandoned the depiction of the human figure. Along with Peter Voulkos, he was a founding resident of the Archie Bray Ceramics Foundation in Helena, Montana, and remained its resident artist from 1952 to 1957. In 1957, he founded the ceramics department at the University of Montana in Missoula. Autio remained in Montana, becoming a vital figure in the region’s ceramic activity. He, along with Frances Senska, fostered a rich ceramic tradition throughout the state.

Matthew Limb

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This object was included in the following exhibitions:

• Lighting the Fire: Ceramics Education in the American West , 8/16/2016 - 12/10/2016
• Unearthed , 8/23/2022 - 5/14/2023

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