Maija Grotell

Maija Grotell was a Finnish-American ceramicist and teacher who had a distinguished career in the United States and became a U.S. citizen in 1934. She studied at the School of Arts and Crafts in Helsinki and her teacher, A.W. Finch, considered her a highly gifted student. Unable to find work in her home country, Grotell emigrated to the United States in 1927, where she built a unique career as an artist and educator in New York. In 1938, she moved to Michigan and began leading the ceramics department at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, where she worked until 1966. Among her colleagues was the architect Eliel Saarinen.
Grotell was especially known for her creativity and technical experimentation with glazes, which were also utilized in architectural projects, such as the façade of the General Motors Technical Center. During her career, Maija Grotell received as many as 25 major awards and honors, and her works are included in the collections of several museums. She held numerous solo exhibitions and was particularly respected for her teaching, for which she also received a posthumous recognition. She has been referred to as a major influence in American ceramic art—“The mother of American ceramics.” Maija Grotell died in 1973 in Detroit, Michigan.