ART
ART & WORK
Seeing Life Through Ceramics
POTTERY IS A DAILY PRACTICE OF CO-CREATION.
“Mary Anne Davis creates art that seeps into the tiny crevices of a person’s life by engaging the inconsequential routines that mark each day. Her artistic territory consists of the first cup of coffee in the morning, a bowl of soup in the evening, the little vase perched on the bed stand.” — Curator, Artist & Author Linda Weintraub
For the past 40 years, Mary Anne Davis has worked at the center of the ceramic art world, blurring the lines between art and life. She reframes the seemingly simple act of setting the table as an opportunity for creative expression. Plates and bowls are participants in the process, quietly asserting the presence of the human hand. Artist and host are co-creators. Embedded in Davis' modest medium is a radical rebuke of mass production. Her work upends the homogeneity of the modern home in a joyful celebration of imperfection. From the subtle hand-painted surfaces of her porcelain dinnerware to sculpted objects that explicitly declare themselves as art, her true galleries are the everyday spaces in which we all live, cook and eat. In the words of Linda Weintraub, "For Davis, art is service."
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Mary Anne Davis
Mary Anne Davis received her BFA from Cranbook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Since the 1980s, she has enjoyed numerous solo and group exhibitions in New York, Tokyo, London and elsewhere. In 2000, she moved from New York City to the Hudson Valley, spurring a decades-long collaboration with her local community. She currently works with a group of women potters in her studio outside of Chatham, New York.
SELECTED ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2018 Women in Power, Chatham Bookstore, Chatham, NY
2015 Still Lives, Spencertown Academy Art Center, Spencertown, NY
2009 Dots, Tinku Gallery, Toronto
2009 Catalogue with essay by Elizabeth Hess
2005 Mark McDonald Gallery, Hudson, NY
2005 Catalogue with essay by Linda Weintraub
2003 The Muse’s Window, Boston, MA
2001 The Chelsea Collection, New York City
2001 Sacred Water, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City, window
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 En Masse 2018, Thompson Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY
2018 Group Show, A’Muse Gallery, Chatham, NY
2018 Light and Shadow, Spencertown Academy, Spencertown, NY
2018 What’s Next?, Unison Art Gallery, New Paltz, NY
2017 En Masse 3, Thompson Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY
2016 Beckett Arts Center, Becket, MA
2014 En Masse, Thompson Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY
2013 Wish You Were There?, Montserrat College of Art Gallery, curated by Leonie Bradbury, catalogue
2013 Unbound Volume III, Artistree Gallery, Woodstock, VT
2013 Manifold, Gallery 301, Beverly, MA
2013 Fluxus : Then, Now, Whenever, Kokomo University, Kokomo, Indiana
2012 The Mysteries of Love and Life, Thompson-Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY
2012 Community Installation, Hudson Independent Artists, Henry Hudson
2012 Studios, in association with NADA, Hudson, NY
2011 The Birding Life, Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA
2018 Group Show, A’Muse Gallery, Chatham, NY
2018 Light and Shadow, Spencertown Academy, Spencertown, NY
2018 What’s Next?, Unison Art Gallery, New Paltz, NY
2017 En Masse 3, Thompson Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY
2016 Beckett Arts Center, Becket, MA
2014 En Masse, Thompson Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY
2013 Wish You Were There?, Montserrat College of Art Gallery, curated by Leonie Bradbury, catalogue
2013 Unbound Volume III, Artistree Gallery, Woodstock, VT
2013 Manifold, Gallery 301, Beverly, MA
2013 Fluxus : Then, Now, Whenever, Kokomo University, Kokomo, Indiana
2012 The Mysteries of Love and Life, Thompson-Giroux Gallery, Chatham, NY
2012 Community Installation, Hudson Independent Artists, Henry Hudson
2012 Studios, in association with NADA, Hudson, NY
2011 The Birding Life, Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA
2011 On and Off the Wall, Columbia County Council of the Arts, Hudson, NY, Stoked, Art Omi, Ghent, NY
2010 Creative Fidelity, Stagira Studio, Austin, TX, What Matters Most, Eco-Artspace, Exit Art, New York City
2007 Artswalk, Hudson, NY
2006 Conversation at the Table, Fabric Workshop, Philadephia
2005 Group Show, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY, Form and Function, the Spencertown Academy, Spencertown, NY
2010 Creative Fidelity, Stagira Studio, Austin, TX, What Matters Most, Eco-Artspace, Exit Art, New York City
2007 Artswalk, Hudson, NY
2006 Conversation at the Table, Fabric Workshop, Philadephia
2005 Group Show, Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY, Form and Function, the Spencertown Academy, Spencertown, NY
SELECT PROJECTS
2016-2017 Beggars Chicken, Ultra-Pro Barbeque, Art Omi Arts Center, Ghent, NY
2002 - 2012 Mala Meal Project
(a ritual performative artwork) www.malameal.org
(selected performances)
Dear Mother Nature, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY, New Paltz, NY
Digital Earth Conference, Berkeley, CA
Earth and Religion Conference, Bard College, Rhinebeck, NY
Art Omi, Ghent, NY
2003 Copia Bowls project; in conjunction with the Food and Power Symposium
Copia Institute in Napa, California, with Molly O’Neil and Lonnie Graham
1998-present Seed Vase Project, http://seedvase.blogspot.com
