The accomplished sculptor Ruth Duckworth visits Salt Lake on Friday, Nov. 19, for a 3 p.m. lecture and slide show of her work in room 158 of the Art and Architecture Building on the University of Utah campus.
Now in her 80s, Duckworth is referred to as one of the "old grandmasters." Her visit is expected to be her last such public lecture. Sponsored by the department of art and art history, the event is free and open to the public.Born in Hamburg, Germany, Duckworth began her career as a stone carver in England during the mid-1930s. Since then, she has sculpted mostly in bronze and clay for more than 60 years.
She studied drawing, painting and sculpture at England's Liverpool School of Art, and ceramics at the Hammersmith School of Art. She also attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London and received an honorary doctorate from DePaul University in Chicago.
David Pendell, organizer of the event and art professor at the U., says Duckworth's work is "uniquely graceful and formal in nature." Her ceramic objects are still infused with the power of mass and singularity of form inherent in stone, he says.
Duckworth's pieces are found in private and public collections around the world, including: the Victoria and Albert Museum; Smithsonian Institution; Kestner Museum in Germany; The Art Institute in Chicago; the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Her lecture is part of the art and art history department's Visiting Artist/Art Historian Series, funded by the Carmen Morton Christensen Fund Endowment.