Charlotte Rufenacht 1000 MLK Dr San Angelo, Tx 76903 (325) 655-7533 Mudwman@aol.com
Charlotte Rufenacht, a native West Texan, creates a wonderful variety of art from the natural materials found in the Concho Valley, her birthplace. Working from an old Santa Fe railroad boxcar converted to a studio, Charlotte has been creating a unique style of pottery and works from wood and metal for over twenty-five years.
My talent is a gift from God. He gave me the ability to look at my surroundings in a special way; I see hidden beauty in the ordinary materials of nature surrounding me. These visions form the ideas that comprise the basis for my work. God gave me the talent to take things of the earth-clay, wood, and metal elements and shape them into something that I think reveals the beauty He has placed in these raw materials.
Often as I begin to work with a piece of natural material, I do not have my mind set on how it will become a work of art. Instead, I let the material communicate to me through the process of shaping, molding, cutting, or polishing; until the piece designs itself. When I do this, the work comes easily, effortlessly. I let my hands, using simple tools, translate what the materials are trying to say, and in this way bring each piece into being.
My desire to create, like my talent, is a gift from God. For me, making art, regardless of the materials or techniques involved, is the same thing as breathing - it is a physiological necessity.
