Nina Else grew up in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco, California.  She went to Peninsula School in Menlo Park, and then to high school in Montevideo, Uruguay.  She graduated from San Jose State College in 19783 with a BA in Art.  Originally trained as a painter, in 1989 Else started a transition from painting and collage to ceramics, but has managed to keep a foot in both camps. 

Else's work is unified by an abstract, graphic use of saturated color and a sense of playfulness.  All her work is hand built, using low-fire glazes and stains, as well as acrylic paint and the masonry epoxy PC7.  The element of collage is most evident in her wall pieces and her two -sided rotating tableaux pieces.  Her box "games" cross into interactive sculpture, almost toys, and the loaf or garden pod pieces also demonstrate her whimsical exuberance. 

In all her work she hopes to make us feel delight.