This bowl is an original one of a kind object created by Brenda Nash Andersen

Andersen Design is an American Designer Craftsmen Studio established by Weston and Brenda Andersen in 1952 on Southport Island, Maine, USA. The studio was started with a philosophy of creating hand crafted products affordable to the middle class. It used ceramic slip cast production of functional forms and nature sculptures as the medium for creating art.

Brenda developed archetypical patterns as repeatable patterns to be rendered by the unique hand
of individual artisans so that no two were identical. Brenda used the ceramic medium to create many one of a kind artworks, One of her themes was portraiture. This bowl is one of a series she painted of her children,

The bowl is dated by the signature on the bottom in which “Andersen” is spelled the Swedish way, as “Anderson”. Weston’s family is Danish but when they first migrated to America the spelling of “Andersen” was changed to “Anderson”. Weston changed the spelling back to “Andersen” in the fifties This bowl has the signature signed with an “o” indicating that it was done at a very early date and that the portrait is of Karen, the eldest daughter.

There are only a few bowls that are known about in this series making them very rare.

Andersen Design remained an American ceramic studio when most of the western ceramic industry moved production to foreign labor markets and competed successfully in a market flooded with foreign made imports, producing a hand-made art product affordable to the middle class. Andersen Design stands as a singular American original design company taking the road less travelled during an era of global transformation.

The bowl, as made, has minor unintentional dabs of brown, black and soft green on the outside of the bowl.

Reprinted from our blog, Andersen Studio Evolution Diaries

One of a Kind Vintage Portrait Bowls by Brenda Andersen