Malcolm Davis, 1937-2011

Well, there are tributes to Malcolm Davis all over the internet, and since we all have our memories, we wanted to share. So here I go…

I attended classes at the Art School at Old Church, in Demarest, NJ for 7 years, and during that time was privileged to be able to volunteer at their annual pottery show, curated by Karen Karnes. Those shows, the outstanding work I saw every year, and the wonderful, generous potters I met every year changed my life.

Malcolm Davis was always approachable, easy to talk to, and even a friend, to a star-struck pottery student. I took a few workshops, and then joined him at his first workshop at La Meridiana, in Tuscany. It was a wonderful experience. I had never been to Italy before, and who better to share the food, the wine, the beauty of the scenery, and pottery making, than Malcolm Davis! It was a magical experience. I know everyone who was in that workshop has some great memories. It was a little rough around the edges, but truly exhilarating.

Malcolm petting the beef before dinner - Poggio Allora

Malcolm was describing to me the strange reaction he got when he sent them his material list, including a few toilet brushes for the glaze mixing. I think his explanation strained everyone’s translation abilities. So he asked me to take a photo with them…voila!

I later sent the photo to Malcolm, and a few months’ later it appeared in my new deck of Studio Potter Collector Cards! I was so proud.

Malcolm was a great friend. I still feel overwhelmed that he would take time to gossip with me, exchange recipes, make plans. He really was a Dr. Seuss-like character (not my original observation, but totally true). Malcolm Davis was a great man, and I consider myself really lucky to have known him.

Malcolm and Ellen, Itsuko behind camera!

Almost Famous...

On the morning my new issue of Studio Potter Magazine arrived I was in the process of recovering from a bout of food poisoning or an evil virus (it didn’t matter which – the results were the same). My husband brought it upstairs to where I lay like a rag doll with no stuffing, as if to offer a cure for what ailed me. I spent the next 20 minutes fighting nausea, chills and a pounding headache as I sobbed over a submission by Vince Montague, “Every Pot is a Test Tile.” Granted I was feeling sort of vulnerable at the time, but his story about the loss of his wife and how the very thing she loved (being a potter) helped him with his grief was so touchingly poignant. Kudos to Editor Mary Barringer for this issue; if you don’t subscribe to Studio Potter Magazine now is the time!

http://www.studiopotter.org/pubs/?view=current

This issue is special to me for many reasons. It is entitled “The Uses of Failure,” a subject that I am not unfamiliar with and I imagine others feel the same way. I too submitted a story for this issue and, much to my amazement, was accepted. At the time I sat down to write it I remember thinking “Failure; now there’s something I can sink my teeth into!” Failure and I have been dancing in the dark since I was knee high to a dragonfly. I knew it was time to shed some light on this tedious Tango. I’ve heard it said that a writer’s voice is usually aimed at one person (an old friend or perhaps a ninth grade English Comp. teacher); well this piece was written for my younger self. Maybe she’s out there somewhere, ready to turn her back on something she’s unsure of when her Studio Potter arrives. As she flips through the pages it dawns on her “Hell, I can be good at failure too!”

This is one of the first pots I made after 25 years of not touching clay

Oh, and guess what else arrived the same morning as my Studio Potter Magazine? My rejection letter from the Strictly Functional Pottery National… I’m so proud of me!