June 25, 2018 | UHCL Staff
In the mid-1980s, Susan Budge moved to Houston to become a flight attendant and decided to take an art class at University of Houston-Clear Lake just to get access to a studio. She thought being a flight attendant would be good for her art career. She could just fly three days, and on her four off days, she could be in an art studio doing what she really wanted to do: ceramics. She got her wish and much more: She’s a 1987 UH-Clear Lake alumna, and her work is being displayed in the UHCL’s Art Gallery in the 2018 Clay Arts Museum and Educational Organization (CAMEO) Emerging Artists Show, which runs through Aug. 2.
“I owe UHCL faculty a great deal for providing me with a great education,” Budge said. “I met (Professor Emeritus of Art) Nick de Vries in a ceramics class and showed him my portfolio. I ended up taking so many classes, Nick said that if I would file a degree plan, he’d help me get a scholarship. He sort of tricked me into getting my master’s degree in art.” Budge said she found out she had so many ceramics classes, she only needed a few more to get the master’s degree. “I wasn’t trying to get a degree. All I wanted was to have access to the studio space,” she said.
Budge said that she kept her job as a flight attendant the entire time she was taking classes. “I would do redeye flights, and when everyone was asleep, I would take out my little manual typewriter and work on art history papers in the galley,” she said. “I used my airline benefits to transport my sculptures to different parts of the country to show in galleries.”
Just before she finished her master’s degree, Budge said the airline she was working for went out of business. “I drew unemployment and applied to other airlines,” she said. “I got offers from Delta and American, and as I was packing to go for my training for Delta Airlines, I was also packing some of my work to go to galleries in California and Santa Fe. I was crying because I just didn’t want to be a flight attendant anymore.”
She ended up calling Delta Airlines and declining the job. “I said, I want to be an artist,” she said. “So then I began applying for grants from the Texas Commission on the Arts to teach.” After receiving grants to teach K-12 children in Victoria and Leveland while giving lectures at local universities, she discovered a love for teaching – but decided she preferred working with college students and adults. “I became an art instructor at San Jacinto Community College and then a tenure-track position opened at San Antonio College,” she said. “I became head of the ceramics department there, got another master’s degree, and retired from San Antonio College after 20 years.”
Much of her ceramic art, said Budge, is just big. “I do it on a human scale because it has more of a presence,” she said. “It also holds up outdoors much better.”
The piece she is exhibiting in the 2018 CAMEO show, entitled ‘Red Sentinel,’ is also very large and intended for outdoor display. “Sentinels are guardians,” she said. “I work spontaneously to let my subconscious thought to the surface. The cutting technique on an abstract form like the Sentinel is a challenging and meditative process. I love the dichotomy of the strength and fragility of the ceramic.”
She added that she works on three to seven pieces at a time, and that a large piece like the Sentinel might take four to eight weeks. Her ultimate goal, she said, is to sell her pieces.
Budge credits de Vries with much of her success as an artist. “Because he encouraged me to get my master’s degree, I was qualified for teaching at the college level,” she said. “The chain of events following my graduation from UH-Clear Lake have led to the position I am in today – working as a full-time artist in Houston and enjoying so much success. I’m exhibiting my first bronze in the Houston Heights, preparing for an exhibition and residency in Germany, and preparing to send work to my ninth museum collection.”
“I remember Susan Budge as a student of one of our outstanding graduate Sculpture and Ceramics Studio courses,” said de Vries. “Her presence greatly contributed to a most meaningful, inspiring and challenging atmosphere. Her spontaneous, creative and playful approach to sculpting was an influence on her studio colleagues. I am not surprised by her professional success due to her motivation, drive and work ethic.”
For more information about the CAMEO Emerging Artists Show, visit www.uhcl.edu/art-gallery/exhibitions/2018-cameo-emerging-artists-show. Learn more about UHCL degrees in studio art at www.uhcl.edu/human-sciences-humanities/departments/communication-studio-arts/art-design.
