Maija Grotell

(b Helsinki, 19 Aug 1899; d 1973). American potter and teacher of Finnish birth. She studied at the School of Industrial Art in Helsinki and then under Alfred William Finch (1854-1930), a Belgian potter working in Helsinki, for six years. She arrived in the USA in 1927 and studied with Charles Fergus Binns at Alfred University, Alfred, NY. She taught in several institutions including the Henry Street Settlement House, New York City, and Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, before being invited in 1938 to teach at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, one of the foremost art schools in America. At Cranbrook Grotell's work developed from low-fired figurative pots to simplified geometric forms in stoneware and porcelain. She experimented with glazes and glaze effects, especially those using ash, copper, chrome and iron; Albany slip (dark brown) and Bristol glaze (thick and white) were among her favourites. Grotell was in charge of the ceramic department at Cranbrook until she retired in 1966.

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