CALIFORNIA POTTERY INDEX - VINTAGE CALIFORNIA POTTERY, DINNERWARE, CERAMICS, FIGURINES - INCLUDING BRAD KEELER POTTERY

Brad Keeler Pottery

Brad Keeler was born in Lincoln, where his father was a ceramic engineer for the local Gladding-McBean plant. After studying art at USC Keeler opened his own Glendale studio where he created naturalistic figures of birds and animals. These were air-brush decorated and enhanced with hand-painted details. Especially popular were the flamingo figures.
In the mid-forties Brad Keeler developed a brilliant red glaze which he called Ming Dragon Blood. This lead to the development of a successful line of Chinese Modern housewares...vases, ginger jars, low bowls, smoking sets and more. Business was good enough to build a new large Brad Keeler Artwares factory on Delay Drive in Los Angeles.
While Japanese items were flooding the market in the early fifties, Keeler was still expanding, building an even larger factory in San Juan Capistrano in 1952. Tragically that same year, Keeler suffered a deadly heart attack. The company couldn't survive the loss and closed its doors in 1953.

Brad Keeler Pottery