Mitchell Gaudet
“I enjoy making things. Creating is a physical reflex for me—a response to whatever captures my interest. Relationships, history, antiques, nature, war, music, graveyards, disasters (natural or man-made)—anything that evokes an emotion strong enough to demand expression becomes the catalyst for my work. I build to convey emotional responses. While emotion guides my process, I intentionally temper it, allowing space for viewers to experience their own reactions and interpret the work using the visual clues I provide. These clues often take the form of found objects, which I layer to create a surface rich in information. My work is narrated by—and built with—my evolving collection.
Collecting and displaying objects has been a lifelong pursuit. Both my home and studio resemble a wunderkammer (cabinet of curiosities), filled with assembled objects that serve me in three ways: they satisfy my instinct to collect, act as a visual reference library, and provide material or inspiration for my work. These objects function as both tools and collaborators in my creative process.
The technique of hot glass casting in sand molds is my primary method of making. My interest in glass began with collecting old blown bottles. Stained glass and glassblowing were the first collegiate art courses I pursued, but I eventually gravitated toward hot casting. This process removes the theatricality often associated with glass production, allowing me to focus on the image and message. Sand, with its easy malleability, lets me build detailed, collage-like impressions from my found objects. It also introduces a controlled roughness that contributes to the abstraction of the piece. By contrasting this raw texture with the smooth polish typical of glass, I create a compelling tension.
Glass—with its rich history and properties of transparency, fragility, beauty, and mystery—continues to captivate me. I use it to create my own contemporary relics, artifacts that reference both past and present.
I currently live on luck and art with my artist wife, Larkin.” - Gaudet
Mitchell Gaudet was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, received his Bachelor of Arts from Louisiana State University and his Master of Fine Arts from Tulane University. In 1991 he founded Studio Inferno, a glass production studio and artist space, which is currently located in Waveland Mississippi. Concurrently with the running of his studio he continued his personal artistic and teaching career. He has exhibited work both nationally and internationally and has received a Pollock-Krasner Grant, a Joan Mitchell Award, and a Mississippi Individual Artists grant. Mitchell recently completed a three-month residency on Governors Island, New York where he was able to continue my work dealing with gun violence in the United States
