Dora de Larios

Born 1933 Los Angeles, California

Died 2018 Culver City, California

EDUCATION

1957  BFA Ceramics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

Ceramic Artist

1968 Dora de Larios and Ellice Johnston founded Irving Place Studio, Los Angeles, California

BIOGRAPHY

Dora de Larios is known for wheel thrown dinnerware, functional wares, stylized narrative sculpture and architectural murals. The murals were characterized by the use of three dimensional panels or repeated dimensional sculpted elements. De Larios drew influence from her Mexican heritage and world mythology.

Born to Mexican immigrants, de Larios credited the closeness she felt to her heritage as a major source of inspiration. A trip to the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City influenced her decision to work in clay after seeing ancient Aztec works made from clay. While ceramics was de Larios’ primary medium, she also worked in cement, bronze, steel and wood not only to complete large-scale mural installations but also to create sculpture. Her considerable body of sculptural work, regardless of medium or scale, is notable for a developed simplified narrative style.

In 1977, de Larios was one of fourteen ceramic artists selected to create a dinnerware set for the senate wives’ luncheon at the White House. She was the only female ceramists chosen. The work was later displayed at the Renwick Gallery, Washington, District of Columbia.

In an interview with Ceramics Monthly in 1978, de Larios said she always knew she wanted to work as a studio potter. In 1963 she started to work on large-scale projects in collaboration with an architectural tile manufacturer in San Francisco. Her first major commission came in 1971 when she was hired to oversee the production of six ceramic murals for Florida’s Walt Disney World. She would go on to make more public murals for the Kona Surf Hotel in Hawaii and the Los Angeles County library. 

De Larios studied with Otto and Vivika Heino and Susan Peterson at the University of Southern California.