Rudy Autio is recognized as having been one of the most masterful and influential artists working with clay in the United States.  He was a Finnish American who was born in Butte, Montana on October 8, 1926. After heading the ceramics department at the University of Montana for twenty-eight years, he retired with Professor Emeritus status.  Several national grants allowed him to work and lecture at the Arabia Porcelain Factory and the Applied Arts University in Helsinki, Finland.  While there, Autio was elected an honorary member of Ornamo, Finland's Designer’s organization.  He won numerous other prestigious awards during his distinguished art career. Rudy died June 20, 2007.

Autio is best known for his figural ceramics. After shaping each sculptural clay form, he utilized the surface as a canvas to apply fanciful human and animal imagery around the entire vessel. In addition to public commissions utilizing clay, he sculpted in bronze, concrete, glass and fabricated metal sculpture. He also designed a number of colorful ryijy tapestries for public buildings in the Northwest and one in Finland. To learn more about Rudy Autio, go to: http://www.rudyautio.com