OJAI : Gathering Will Laud Famed Potter, 98

Ojai artist Beatrice Wood will share opinions, answer questions from the public and sign copies of her autobiographies at a gathering in her honor Wednesday at The Ojai Table of Contents bookstore.

The 98-year-old potter is recognized for her luster-glazed vases and whimsical and provocative clay figurines.

Wood is also closely associated with the nihilistic and abstract Dada art movement of World War I that enlivened and often outraged art patrons in New York and Paris. Her books “I Shock Myself” and the illustrated “Pinching Spaniards” describe her emersion in the avant-garde art world and detail her love affairs with famed Dada artist Marcel Duchamp and novelist Henri-Pierre Roche.

Wood began visiting Ojai in the 1920s and took up residence there in the mid-1950s. Her hilltop gallery is open to the public. It can be found by heading north from her large, pink mailbox, an eye-catching landmark along Ojai-Santa Paula Road in upper Ojai.

Wood is known for instilling candor and casualness into her artwork and conversation.

“I thought it could be a cooperative thing, responding to people’s questions instead of preparing a talk,” Wood said Saturday. “I want them to ask questions on any subject, and I will answer.”

The free event will begin with a champagne reception at 7 p.m.