Laura Andreson (1902 San Bernardino – August 16, 1999

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

) was an American

ceramic artist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whi ...

and educator at University of California Los Angeles.

Life and career

Andreson graduated from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

''summa cum laude'' in 1932 with a bachelor's degree in education. She completed her MFA at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1937 through an intensive summer program. Andreson taught in the art department at University of California, Los Angeles from 1933 to 1970. She founded the ceramics program at the university in 1933 through the art education department. This program was one of the first of its kind in the United States and the first in the American West. Andreson was a major influence on the ceramics in the United States during the twentieth century. When Andreson began her career, there was little technical information available, leading to a lifelong commitment to experimentation with glazes and clays. Andreson is credited with developing new glaze technologies and firing techniques. Andreson found critical success early in her career. In 1937 she exhibited at the Rena Rosenthal Gallery in New York and in 1940 had an exhibition of her work at the

Honolulu Academy of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single col ...

. In 1946, the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

bought a piece of her work for their permanent collection; this was one of the first craft pieces made by a living artists purchased for the museum's collection. Andreson is credited with teaching more than 5,000 students while at UCLA. In her early career, Andreson worked primarily in low-fire

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ce ...

, which she slab built and slip cast. She learned to throw on the potter's wheel in 1944 from F. Carlton Ball at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

and Gertrude Natzler in Los Angeles. An accidental reduction firing in her Denver Kiln in 1948 lead to her beginning to work in stoneware. In 1957, Andreson began working in

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...

, which previously had been used primarily in commercial production in the United States. By the end of the decade, she had become the West Coast expert on porcelain among studio potters. Porcelain was her primary medium for the remainder of her career. Her production was deeply influenced by travels to Scandinavia and East Asia. Laura Andreson's creative process differed radically from other potters. Instead of starting with the creation of the vessel form, Andreson began with glazes and then decided what kind of form was best suited for the glaze. Her papers are held at the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...

. Andreson's work can be found in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the

, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the

Everson Museum of Art Everson may refer to: People with the surname * Ben Everson (born 1987), English footballer * Bill Everson (1906–1966), Welsh international rugby union player * Cliff Everson, a New Zealand car designer and manufacturer * Corinna Everson (born ...

Smithsonian Museum of American Art The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

, the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...

, and the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. Her work, ''Bowl'', was acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the

Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that ...

's 50th Anniversary Campaign.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andreson, Laura 1902 births 1999 deaths American women ceramists People from San Bernardino, California University of California, Los Angeles alumni UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture faculty Columbia University School of the Arts alumni 20th-century American women artists 20th-century American ceramists American women academics