Maija Grotell : Works Which Grow from Belief [signed]

Development of an elemental creative statement is an awesome achievement. Most great pottery has grown out of accumulations of technical and aesthetic refinements by generations of workers within a traditional style. Maija Grotell worked independently, in the middle of America, during a time when each element of her art had to be perfected from within her own experimental ingenuity and powerful spirit. Works which grow from Belief are never, even at the beginning, only personal statements. They rise from the inspired identification of a unique soul with the possibilities of structure and material. They relate materials to gravity, which is their message for our posture. They breathe and vibrate with vision. they strike a timeless balance between protection and freedom. Their clarity comes from an exact knowledge of human spaces in relation to the scale of the world. These are the works which are always relentlessly modern. They are the products of a powerful, sustained series of human acts which expose basic patterns of growth. These real discoveries radiate fresh pride and solid optimism, revealing a tangible totality of human perception. Each of Maija Grotell's prime works is a unique focus of the universal language of form known as pottery. And in these works, every element of this language has been brought to a point of development worthy of the best works of any time or place. - Taken from Jeff Schlanger's Introduction Consists mostly of a taped interview which took place between the Artist Maija Grotell, Jeff Schlanger and Toshiko Takaezu. Also includes large, full color full page plates of Grotell's works.