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EVENT: Dudding ceramics show at USAO
DATE: Through Oct. 12

One of the powerful images in the work of ceramics artist Jaymes Dudding, this infant figure is one of the many symbols drawn from ancient rituals captured in the exhibition “Curious Objects.” The show opens with a reception at 4 p.m. Sept. 11 in the USAO Art Gallery. The gallery is located on the first floor of Davis Hall and is handicap accessible. The show is open through Oct. 12.

Can he help it if he sees symbolic meaning and life forms emerging from what other people see as mere objects?

Ceramics artist Jaymes Dudding has been busy on a range of new artistic endeavors since he retired from the University of Science and Arts faculty last year. A new art exhibition featuring his imaginative work remains open through Oct. 12 at the USAO Art Gallery.

“Curious Objects” is a collection of ceramic sculpture created recently by the decorated artist. Dudding retired from the USAO faculty after 25 years teaching art: ceramics, jewelry making and art education.

“The amazing abundance of symbolic forms and images throughout time on pottery vessels, female figurines and other cult objects has persuaded me that these works are much more than simply decorative motifs,” Dudding said of his “Curious Objects” artwork. “I’m convinced that they belong to an undeciphered language of the metaphysical.”

Dudding says these “new artifacts” bring to life primal insignias of the snake, bird, bison, egg, heart and womb.

“My ceramic sculptures have been inspired by these powerful forms and images,” Dudding said. “Such figures have always been essential elements of ancient rituals and sacred ceremonies.”

Dudding’s work has been the subject of 55 juried art exhibitions since 1981. He is a member of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition and five other state and national professional organizations.

It was Dudding who created the massive and highly detailed ceramic sculpture, The Gaia Arch,” which anchors the Gaia Garden just north of Davis Hall at USAO. The two-ton sculpture was erected first in an exhibition out-of-state, but in 1991 Dudding made it a gift to the college of his work and legacy. Its construction is detailed in a pictorial record on the web at www.usao.edu/~facduddingj/.

Dudding joined the USAO faculty in 1976. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of New Mexico. Later he earned a master of fine arts degree at the University of Oklahoma.

Dudding and his wife, Pat, live in Rio Rancho, N.M., near Albuquerque. He teaches art and humanities courses at two institutions in the area.