Meet Susan Budge | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Susan Budge and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Susan, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Choosing to pursue a career in art for me was less of a career choice, and more of a requirement. Working with clay became something I had to do. Taking risks is definitely part of the equation, and how to calculate the risks requires consideration… it’s a gamble… if you live at the poverty level (which I did for a few years) you can’t gamble at all. If you live slightly above the poverty level, then you can calculate the amount of money you can afford to loose.

The first big risk I took was very early on- when I decided to devote myself to a career in art. I knew that I would have to work a job to support my art career, so needed to find a job making the maximum amount of money in the minimum amount of time, to have time and energy to make art work. Flight attendant seemed perfect as they typically work 3 days on and 4 days off, so I became a flight attendant. I went to graduate school at the same time, so I worked red eye flights in to work on research papers as passengers slept. That was a burn out job and synchronicity had the airline going out of business right when I was a the end of my rope. Anxious about being unemployed I applied with more airlines. When I was about to move for a new job I realized I could not be a flight attendant anymore and needed to concentrate on my art. A couple of waitress jobs paid the bills while I finished getting my MA at UHCL, and then I applied for my first residency with the Texas Commission on the Arts. The two residencies that followed revealed my love of teaching art.

The biggest risk I have taken in recent years was to invest in having my work cast in bronze and stainless steel. It costs a lot and after I did the first one, I got so excited about it that I had to do another, and then a third. Three big bronzes is a significant investment which caused some anxiety, realizing that I could have bought a new vehicle, but, ultimately, Heidi Vaughan sold all three.

The hardest decision, which was a big risk, was when to retire from my tenured teaching position at San Antonio College. I had reached the rank of full professor and had a wonderful ceramics facility, but was aching to return to Houston and devote all of my time to raising my son William(who was then 11 years old) and my studio practice. After careful consideration and planning with my accountant I took the leap. Confirmation that I had made the right decision was immediate as I was awarded a residency at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and was invited to teach classes at Art League Houston and the Glassell School of Art. William thrived in our new environment. Stress related illnesses ceased. My art career advanced in unexpected directions and before I knew it my exhibition schedule was overwhelming. In 2017 my work was included in 22 exhibits including a museum show that I was invited to curate and a solo show at Redbud gallery. In 2018 I realized I had to adjust my work/life balance and that has been a continuing challenge. When I first worked in clay, I knew it was my favorite medium, and a few years after that, I realized I would work in clay all my life… it is absolutely what I feel I am meant to do. Still, we all need some sense of balance and artists need time to play, observe and reflect in order to keep their work fresh, sincere and authentic. 2018 I was invited to a residency in Germany. It was expensive and the return on the investment was intangible yet very valuable. 2018 I had my first show with Heidi Vaughan Fine Art and have had continuous success working with her. My recent show, “Dreams, Visions and Desires” contained 60 sculptures created in the previous 9 months. It is a realization of hard work paying off and dreams coming true. 2019 I met and married singer/songwriter Rick Paulson who has devoted countless hours and energy to assist me in all areas. Love, devotion and hard work created a new studio, the “Stardust” installation at the Silo’s, multiple installations at Art Museum TX in Katy and Sugarland, The Biblical Arts Museum in Dallas, Heidi Vaughan Fine Art, “A Gift from the Bower” at the Loche Surls Center for Art and Nature (LSCAN), and Public Art installations in San Antonio and Houston. In the past two years we have worked through my breast cancer diagnosis and the multiple surgeries that have followed. With the help of my loving partner, and a wonderful medical team, I have survived, been declared cancer free, and regained my strength and stamina. One of my favorite quotes is from James Surls (one of my all time favorite sculptors and friend)… he said “Do what you want to do. Don’t do what you don’t want to do”. Another is from Constantin Brancusi “I give you pure joy”, and another is Kandinsky, “everything has a secret soul which is silent more often than it speaks”. Another, “don’t try to push the river” (source unknown). Duane Michals said, “Time is not what you might think, it is and isn’t in a wink” and “The best part of us is not what we see, it’s what we feel.”

I hope that through my work I can evoke feelings in you, feelings that evoke some of the mystery, passion, meaning, joy, connection, amusement and love that life has to offer.

Susan Budge
January 5, 2024

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

Touching clay for the first time was my epiphany. My work is the culmination of over forty years of exploration. The tactile quality is sensuous, immediate and gratifying. The duality of clay has engaged me as I explored the paradoxes of life: Soft/hard, fluid/static, plastic/rigid, vulnerable/strong. Fired ceramics can be pulverized to dust, or last thousands of years.The worlds oldest ceramic object, to date, the Venus of Dolni Vestonice, is reportedly 26,000 years old. Likely to have been a fertility figure, akin to the Venus of Willendorf, it inspires at once, the duality of sensuality and maternity. My preferred method of creating is spontaneous, as likely was the case of my ancient fellow artists. By working intuitively, we allow subconscious thoughts to surface. According to André Breton, we “resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality”, or surreality. With the Surrealists, I celebrate the unexpected, the element of surprise, and paradox. My abstract forms have been characterized as celebrating the female reproductive system while the ceramic hard hats have been associated with protruding pregnant bellies or voluptuous breasts. Like Kandinsky, I imagine things having a secret soul that is silent though it speaks. Art imitates life and life is fulfilled through art…with my work, aspects of life continue to be revealed through “Dreams, Visions, & Desires”.

Every semester I told my students: “I was never the most talented in class, but I loved making things, so I persevered and that has made all the difference”. The road may be long, and sometimes very hard, but if you can maintain your integrity and vision, live with gratitude and compassion, be kind, never give up, believe in yourself and your dreams, you will succeed.

I am proud to have survived abuse, and to have raised my son as a single mom: to have been a tenured professor who, educated, motivated, and started an endowed scholarship fund, to have persevered through illness and despair: to have a strong work ethic and moral compass: to be a considerate, loving, wife: and to have learned the value of forgiveness, even self forgiveness, as we are all flesh and blood and bones, imperfect and turning to dust.

It thrills me when people want to own my work, and I love it when my work is on display through exhibitions in galleries, museums, and public installations. Currently my works are in the collections of 10 museums, numerous outdoor installations and public buildings.

I’m excited about building a big new kiln, making more work in clay, getting more works cast in bronze/stainless steel, getting more gallery representation, museum shows, spending more time with family and friends on the ranch, going snow skiing and having more fun!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Houston’s art scene is rich and diverse- many choices- the Menil, HCCC, Redbud, Heidi Vaughan and Locke Surls Center for Art and Nature shouldn’t be missed For live music/dancing, wherever my husband’s band “Sevens Edge” is playing, and for dining outside of Houston, Repka’s has the best crawfish in Texas and Anthonie’s Market Grill in Simonton has great food and atmosphere, as does The Wine Bar at the Grande Fayette Hotel in Fayetteville.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many dear friends, patrons and family who have helped me to acheive success, starting with my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, brother, but none as much as my husband Rick Paulson and my son William Budge. Directors of galleries and arts Organizations, Rick Hernandez and the Texas Commission on the Arts, Sara Morgan, Clint Willour, Sarah Darro, Mary Headrick, the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Hans Molzberger, Hilmsen, residency programs. Joan & Jerry Herring,(Fayetteville), Gus & Sharon Kopriva, Heidi Vaughan, Judy Youens, Tom Andriola, David Hardaker, Linda Darke, Gus Kopriva, Volker Eisele, Jeff Forster, Patrick Palmer, Glassell School, Emily -Sloan Mystic Lyon, Art League Houston, Women’s Caucus for the Arts, Lawndale, (Houston) Charlene Rathburn, Lisa Ortiz, Ana Montoya, Bill FitzGibbons, Felix Padron, Umberto Saldana, James Gray-Rialto, Jon Hinosa, Say-Si, Karen Calvert, Phil Hardberger, David Rubin, Bill Chiego, San Antonio, Ana Villaronga-Roman, Katy, Sugarland, Phillip Eirich, Kansas City, Ed Roberts (Loveed Fine Art, New York). Artists, James Surls, Charmaine Locke, Jesus Moroles, Jeff Whyman. Richard Fluhr, Joe Havel, Robert Morris, Thedra Cullar-Ledford, Alton Dulaney, Michelle O’Michael, Susan Plum, George Tobolowsky, Joe Barrington. Countless patrons, Alton & Emily Steiner, Buddy Steves & Roweena Young, Steve Alpert, Lonnie & Terri Gates, Katherine & Andy Persson, Rob & Tara Tomicic, Melinda O’Connell, Jan Rayburn, Billie & Marvin Chasen, Jill, Fred, Leslie, Andy Huston, John Davis Rutkauskas, Nick & Candice Goodwin, Barbara Faber & Ray Hylenski, Ann & Dennis Webb, Don & Crystal Owens, Amy & Rick Cherry, Jill Joe Diaz, Josie and Jonathan Kaplow… Writers/Publishers, Catherine Anspon, Donna Tennant, John Bernhard, Molly Glentzer, The Houston Press, Glasstire, Dan R. Goddard, Diana Roberts, TX, Southwest Art CO, Peter Drake, NY. My teachers, mentors, Sara Waters, Verne Funk, James Watkins, professors at TTU. Peter Voulkos, Rudy Autio, Jim Leedy, Paul Soldner, Jun Kaneko, ceramic artists. Nick DeVries, Steve Reynolds, Ken Little, Francis Colpitt, professors in graduate school who encouraged my growth, as well as so many others who have supported me through the years.

Website: susanbudge.com

Instagram: Budgeceramic7

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susanbudge777

Image Credits
KK Grether