Vase

The Finnish-born Maija Grotell was one of the most influential potters working in the vessel tradition during the 1930s and 1940s. Even though a relatively large number of women had played important roles in the Art Pottery movement of the early twentieth Century, few female ceramists were active between the wars. Grotell was one of the exceptions. After first studying in her native Finland, in 1927 Grotell immigrated to the United States to study under master potter and influential teacher, Charles Fergus Binns at the New York State Clayworking School at Alfred University. Like so many other potters, Grotell soon began teaching to sustain her ceramics career. She worked in the crafts program at the Henry Street Settlement House in New York until she moved to Cranbrook in 1938; while in New York, she also taught at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, for two years beginning in 1936. Grotell moved to the Cranbrook Academy of Art, outside Detroit, to teach pottery, and it marked a turning point in her career. A consummate craftsman, Grotell developed a sophisticated geometric style at Cranbrook, as seen in this vase. She now also had access to a large kiln so that she could create pots on a scale grander than previously possible.