Veralee Bassler

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The "Grand Chairs" & Their Artists

I was born in Eagle Rock, California, in 1935, and lived in that town, with a sort of "Pleasantville" kind of growing up, until graduation from high school, which is where, by the way, my love of clay began.

After receiving my B.A. from UCLA in 1959, I started my twenty-five year career of teaching art in the Los Angeles Unified School District. These years were happily interrupted by the birth of my daughters, a decade of wonder- living and working in Oaxaca, Mexico, graduate work with Robert Brady at the Appalachian Center for Crafts in Tennessee, and more teaching. I am retired from all of that now and am in my studio grappling with ideas that continue to take form, reflections of the richness life experiences have brought.

My most recently completed project was to create ten foot long tile panels for benches located at the newly opened Cruise Ship Promenade on our waterfront.

And now the work in progress is for "The Chair Affair". As I push the boundaries of physics with clay, what is left standing will doubtless be an outgrowth of my recent tile work, in terms of color and textural elements. I find great satisfaction in acquiring a "skin" on my work, that speaks of wear and time and contrasts of surface.

It is a pleasure to contribute my companionship with clay to the ongoing support of the Warner Grand Theatre.