Beatrice Wood, also known as the “Mama of Dada,” was born in 1893 in San Francisco and was raised in both California and New York. When she was 18, she left for Paris to study painting at the Académie Julien and acting at the Comédie Française. Upon Wood’s return to the United States, she fell in with the prominent avant-garde circle of artists in New York primarily associated with the Dada movement, which included close friends Marcel Duchamp and Henri-Pierre Roché. In 1928, Wood moved back to California, this time to Los Angeles, where she first discovered ceramics when she enrolled in a pottery class at Hollywood High School in 1933. Wood settled in Ojai in 1948 and continued her studio practice, focusing on the vessel and the luster glazes for which she is known. Wood’s work is included in collections around the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She is the author of numerous books including her autobiography, I Shock Myself. Her life has inspired movie roles, and she was named as a Living Treasure of California. Wood died in 1998, after celebrating her 105th birthday.