Carlsbad Family Open Studios with Anne Mudge

by Patricia Frischer

I am a self proclaimed huge fan of Anne Mudge’s.  I have followed her career for years, seen most of her exhibitions and installations, and cheered her on as a SD Art Prize recipient.

I like how straightforward she is when she speaks about her art. She is a process artist which means that she doesn’t preconceive the finished product, but instead collaborates with her materials. Wire is her main medium, but the real style is drawing in air. The wires are lines in space. When you move or the work moves it changes. It is affected by the light and therefore the shadows it cast as well.

The works can take up lots of space but they are lightweight and resilient. Her plyers and wire cutters supplement her hands as vital tools. I was not surprised to learn that two of her favorite artists are also mine: Eva Hesse who works with wire and cloth and sees the world in terms of her materials and Giorgio Morandi whose fascination with simple shapes and shades of grey shares a silence with Anne Mudge’s creations.

The interview of Mudge was handled by Michelle Kaskovich. Then a very short presentation of the history of wire art works was presented by Lisa Naugler. This included illustration of wire kitchen tools, barb wire fences and works by Alexander Calder.  Finally, the demonstration of the art making workshop on wire sculpture was conducted by Tey Lin. 

Michelle Kaskovich and Anne Mudge

The following works by Anne Mudge are on view in the Four Vision exhibition at the William D. Cannon Art Gallery in Carlsbad on Dove Lane.  This exhibition of four women artists commemorates the 100th anniversary of the passing of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. Artists are Anne Mudge (sculpture), Kline Swonger (mixed-media and sculpture), Bianca Juarez (ceramics) and Marisol Rendón (drawing).

View the Four Visions, Virtual Family Open Studios art lesson HERE.

Tey Lin explains the free supplies for this workshop available to the public. She gave some simple instructions for bending the wire, attaching beads and joining the wire shapes to a central structure for hanging. Families were encouraged to work together and make the final work an expression of the family dynamic. 

The lesson plan and an archived version of the workshop, interview and history lesson will be posted on the City of Carlsbad Cultural Arts website