Rudy Autio Makes 'Night Music'

(Originally released as "Rudy Autio, Montana Artist".)
Martin Holt, 1994.
Length: 40 minutes.
Format: NTSC/VHS, PAL.
Purchase: $49.00 postpaid.
Available from: Montana Art Works, Helena MT, tel. 406/442-6331.

In this excellent "video-journal" film-maker Martin Holt follows Rudy Autio through the process of creating his sculptural vessel "Night Music." Working from prepared slabs of clay lying on a table down to the final glaze firing, Rudy Autio speaks in vivid and poetic language about his techniques, materials, and the creative process.

The most interesting parts of the discussion were his comments on the relationship between sculptural form and painted surface, "drawing in the round," and his belief that intuition is "the best key to managing an aesthetic problem."

Above all, it is a treat to watch the hand and eye of a master artist at work, shaping the clay and painting the surface with the dexterity and spontaneity that only come from a lifetime's experience.

The video is enriched by Holt's opening montage of biographical material that he adapted from Matthew Kangas's retrospective catalogue. This is only the first in a three-part series on the life and work of Rudy Autio; I recommend it highly.

Reviewed by Catherine Merrill. Studio Potter Network Newsletter, Spring 1996.