Elsa Rady
Elsa Rady is known for simple porcelain vessels, typically vases, bottles, and bowls. Many of her bowl forms have diagonal cuts at the rim to visually create the feeling ofcentripetal motion.
Rady used ...
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About
- Biography
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Elsa Rady is known for simple porcelain vessels, typically vases, bottles, and bowls. Many of her bowl forms have diagonal cuts at the rim to visually create the feeling ofcentripetal motion.
Rady used her work to reinterpret ancient classical ceramic forms and techniques, particularly those derived from Asian ceramic traditions. The simplicity and clean lines of her work also reflect mid-century modern aesthetics. She challenged the existing standards for ceramic display by creating custom wall-mounted shelves and suspending her works from stainless steel cords.
Rady studied with Ralph Bacerra and Otto and Vivika Heino at the Chouinard Art Institute. She worked designing for both Interpace Franciscan China Corporation and Swid Powell Corporation. She maintained her studio in Venice, California.
Her ceramics have become icons of contemporary design.
" - Apprenticeships & Residencies
- Primary Work Experience
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1989-1994
Interpace Franciscan China Corporation, Glendale, California
Studio Artist, Venice, California
Other
- Public Collections
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Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, California
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
Denver Art Museum, Colorado
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York
John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Newark Museum,Newark, New Jersey
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan, Utah
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington D.C.
Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, New York
- Bibliography
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Clark, Garth. American Ceramics 1876 to the Present. New York, NY: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1987.
_________, and Cindy Strauss. Shifting Paradigms in Contemporary Ceramics: The Garth Clark & Mark Del Vecchio Collection. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012.
DuPont, Diana C. The Art of Elsa Rady and Robert Mapplethorpe. Santa Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1993.
Lauria, Jo. Color and Fire: Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics 1950-2000. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art with Rizzoli Publishers International, 2000.
Levin, Elaine. The History of American Ceramics from Pipkins and Bean Pots to Contemporary Forms. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams Inc., Publishers, 1988.
Perreault, John. Elsa Rady. New York, NY: Holly Solomon Gallery, 1990.
Perry, Barbara. American Ceramics: The Collection of Everson Museum of Art. Syracuse, NY: Everson Museum of Art with Rizzoli International Publications, 1989.
Rady, Elsa. Elsa Rady Porcelain. Janus Gallery, 1984.
- CV or Resume
- Website(s)
Citation: Elsa Rady, "The Marks Project."
Last modified April 29, 2026. https://www.themarksproject.org/artists/elsa-rady
