American Artist Beatrice Wood: 1893-1998 One of America's most famous ceramic artists, Beatrice Wood lived and worked in Ojai, California from the 1940s until her death in 1998 at age 105. Her trademark metallic "lustre" glazes are created by reducing the oxygen inside the kiln while at high temperature. The process is unpredictable, and Beatrice Wood often fired her pieces several times until she achieved an effect she liked. The simple, classic form and golden glaze make the Municipal Art Collection’s double handled urn resemble an ancient treasure. Wood also created wry figurative works and humorous drawings. Her celebrated autobiography, "I Shock Myself," chronicles Wood's many adventures, including her involvement with Marcel Duchamp and the avant-garde in New York in the 1920s and her experiences as a follower of the philosopher Krishnamurti in Ojai in the 1940s.