Bruce Howdle
medium: ceramics
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Contact information
Artist resides in: Mineral Point, WI
Email Address: bruce@brucehowdle.com
Web site: www.brucehowdle.com
Artist statement
Bruce Howdle's work ranges from a mug thrown from a half-pound of clay to a nine-ton, 52-foot long, wall-hung, stoneware relief. Animals leap from the clay--monkeys, buffalo, horses, fish--seemingly in spontaneous motion.
A ceramic sculptor in Mineral Point since 1976, Howdle produces small as well as huge sculptures, in-the-round and on-the-wall. His large, thrown vases swirl with bas relief animals and people leaping into full dimension. He continually experiments with color and sodium firings on his vases, mugs and small sculptures.
His mural works move into the realm of smaller reliefs--a raging lion, running deer--and eventually into the big building sized commissioned works he has sculpted and installed in locations around the country. His large commissions range from a covered wagon train to mountain climbers to biblical scenes to mermaids and cityscapes.
Visitors to his restored 1835 studio and gallery may find him working on drawings for new mural commissions or covered with wet clay from a session on his potter's wheel or sculpting a wet wall of clay on a building-long easel. Visitors will always find something new in the works at the Howdle Studio and Gallery.
Biography
Education:
B.S., UW-Platteville, 1969
M.A., Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, 1974
M.F.A., Arizona State University, Tempe, 1976
Teaching:
Ceramics lecturer, UW-Madison Art Department, 1994-2005
Ceramics lecturer, UW-Platteville Art Department, 2005-present