Noreen Rubin

Art has been an important part of Noreen’s life in one way or another since she was a child, loving even the smell of tempera paints in grammar school and later as an art major in high school. A native of hicago, Ill, Noreen attended the University of Illinois, majoring in education with a minor in art. She sold her first painting in her junior year in college. After graduating, she began her teaching career while continuing her independent study of sculpture as well as oil painting and spending time in art museums during her travels in the U.S. and around the globe. She moved to Miami in l981 and a few years later she began an intense study of ceramics and hand building under the tutelage of the well respected Florida clay artist, Juanita May. It was the combination of sculptural forms along with richly colored glazes that fired her passion. “The feel of the clay in my hands fills my soul, as well as the use of a brush to apply glazes.” Her love of color is ever present in her work and she often combines figurative forms with hand crafted textured mosaic. Her work deals largely with the varied and multiple aspects of the female experience.

In these last 15 years Noreen has attended several Master Artist workshops throughout the country, including Penland School of Crafts, Anderson Ranch, University of Miami, Armory Art Center, etc. She feels very fortunate to have watched such important clay artists, such as  Patti Warashina, Beth Cavener Stichter, Janis Mars Wunderlich,  and Arthur Gonzalez, to mention a few, and to have their images stored in her head.  

An active member of the Ceramic League of Miami, she has been juried into their yearly member’s exhibitions since 2000, receiving  several merit awards including Best in Show in 2004. She enjoys attending their many workshops. Last year she was on the Ceramic League’s  Empty Bowls committee which organized the crafting and selling of over 400 bowls at The Ramble to raise money for the Feeding South Florida Food Bank. In addition her work was included in the 2004 Florida Craftsmen Exhibit “Unearthed”in St Petersburg, Florida.  Her sculpture appeared in the Clay Times Magazine Jan/Feb 2004 Issue.  

Noreen and her husband, Allen, have been Coconut Grove residents for twenty seven years and walk their two dogs among the several peacocks residing in their neighborhood. They were thrilled to see the beautiful “new” peacocks popping up on the street corners of their very own Grove.