Gudrun Helene Klix: Profile And Biography. January 2024

Gudrun Klix has been living and working in Australia since 1981 after being offered the position of head of ceramics at the University of Tasmania’s School of Art in Hobart. However she was born in Germany, and grew up and was educated in the USA as her family migrated there in the early 50’s.
Since arriving in Australia Gudrun’s work has been inspired by the Australian landscape and a concern for the environment. Leaf /pod forms reflect the ancient and fragile nature of the land and serve to remind us that we must look after this heritage if it is to survive intact. Her work and installations speak of the complex relationships of the relative newcomers with the land and the fragile environment.
As a young woman Gudrun spent much time exploring and hiking the mountain trails of the Cascade National Park near her Western Washington State home. There she developed a deep love of nature. At University she studied art, photography and German literature and spent her summer months traveling and hiking in the high mountain ranges of the west coast. After a stint of school-teaching she succumbed to her longing to work as an artist and fell in love with ceramics. Her first studio was in Portland, Oregon where she developed her throwing skills and produced functional ware inspired by the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi.
From 1976 – 79 Gudrun studied for her MFA at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. There she came into contact with a wide range of resident and visiting artists who awakened her interest in the broader visual arts, sculpture and installation. It was here that she produced her first-mixed media installations combining ceramics with various other materials that expressed her love and concern for the environment.
After completing her MFA, Gudrun landed a Head of the Ceramics position at the Tasmanian School of Art, in Hobart, Tasmania (1981). There she developed and implemented the first ceramic Master of Arts course in Australia. Three years later she became Head of Ceramics at the recently formed Sydney College of the Arts. There she continued developing courses (including the MVA and PhD programs in ceramics) and teaching until her retirement in 2006.
Throughout the years, Gudrun continued to be active in developing her own art practice, exhibiting nationally and internationally – including in Canada, the USA, Europe, New Zealand, South America and Asia. She has participated in numerous national and international symposiums, lectured widely, taught guest sessions at various institutions in Europe as well as curated student and national ceramic exhibitions.
Gudrun’s artwork has a strong environmental basis and she has developed several techniques that are unique to her work. She has participated in well over 100 national and international exhibitions and been included in numerous books, journal articles, as well as being recipient of major awards including a number of Australia Council grants. She has also been awarded various prizes including a Bronze prize for her work: “On the Table” in the -International Ceramics Triennale, Icheon, Korea-2011; as well as First Prize for Indoor Work at Harbour Sculpture in Sydney 2015, a First Prize in Ergon Art Award- Rockhampton 2008, and First Prize in the Muswellbrook Ceramic Award. Her work is held in numerous national and international public collections including the National Gallery of Australia, the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences- Sydney; Keramikmuseum Westerwald, Germany; Icheon World Ceramic Center Korea; Tsingua University, Beijing, China; and The Dowse Museum, Wellington NZ. Her work has been published in numerous journal articles and major books on ceramics.
Gudrun’s artwork ranges across a number of formats – including mixed- media installations, one-off sculptural forms, vessels and wall pieces. She utilises various types of clay and firing techniques– whatever she finds is best suited to the concepts and work ideas: earthenware to stoneware and porcelain.
After her retirement she and her Australian husband relocated to the Northern Rivers region of NSW where they have re-furbished an old banana packing shed for new ceramics art studios in the Koonyum range in the hinterland of the Byron Shire, where she is now continuing her practice.