Drawing on Abstract Expressionist painting and Japanese pottery, Hawaii-born ceramist Toshiko Takaezu gained international recognition for her large “closed form” clay sculptures. These nonfunctional egg-shaped sculptures challenged the distinction between decorative and high art, an approach she espoused in classes and workshops. From 1967 to 1992, Takaezu taught at Princeton, where her dedication to craft and her tenacious teaching style were both revered and feared. She once told a student, who was absent because she was training for the Olympics, not to return to class: “I have given your spot away to someone who cares about ceramics.”