A Brief Biography: American Ceramic Artist Laura Andreson
We are excited to once again feature the pottery of American ceramic artist, Laura Andreson, in our April Great Estates! Art & Antiques Auction!
Hailing from a large personal collection, this will be the second time that a large selection (15 pieces) of Andreson’s work will be available for bidding at Ripley Auctions.
Recognized for her refined, simple vessel forms, Andreson worked in low-fired earthenware early in her career, learning to throw on the potter's wheel in 1944. She began working in stoneware in 1948 and then with porcelain in 1957, becoming the West Coast expert on porcelain among studio potters by the end of the decade. Porcelain became her primary medium for the remainder of her career with her vessels reflecting influences from Scandinavia design, Persian techniques, and Japanese ceramic colors.
Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1932 from the University of California, Los Angeles, and completing her MFA at Columbia University in 1937, Andreson would go on to teach there from 1933 to 1970, founding UCLA’s ceramics program through the art education department. This ceramics program was among one of the first of its kind in the United States and the first in Western America. As an educator, she is credited with teaching over 5000 students and is cited as reviving the art of pottery making in the United States.
Andreson’s career was met with early success. Exhibiting in New York galleries beginning in 1937, she had an entire exhibition of her work in 1940 at the Honolulu Academy of Art. In 1946, the Museum of Modern Art bought one of her works for their permanent collection- this event marked the first time a craft piece made by a living artist had been purchased for the museum’s collection. A large collection of her work permanently resides in the collections of the Utah State University Museum in Logan, Utah. One of her vessels can be found in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum along with her papers- comprised of correspondence, gallery records, writings, and photographic materials that document her pioneering work in ceramics.
Her artistic process was one not used by most potters- instead of crafting the vessel and then the glaze, Andreson did the opposite, beginning with the glaze and then deciding on a suitable form. Little technical information was available at the onset of her career, leading her to experiment with different glazes and clays for the rest of her life. Such commitments allowed her to develop new glaze technologies as well as firing techniques. Bright reds, turquoise-greens, and stunning yellows are just a few examples of her trademark pigmented glazes.
Sources:
https://www.themarksproject.org/marks/andreson
https://fapeculturaldiplomacy.org/artists/laura-andreson
https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/laura-andreson-papers-5576
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-aug-17-mn-971-story.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20140123190354/http://www.craftinamerica.org/artists_clay/story_307.php?