May Davis
{{Short description|English-New Zealand potter}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=February 2015}}
{{Infobox artist
| honorific_prefix =
| name = May Beatrice Davis
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| birth_name = May Beatrice Scott
| birth_date = 30 March 1914
| birth_place = Manchester, England
| death_date = 13 January 1995
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| nationality = English
| education = Leach Pottery, Cornwall
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| known_for = Pottery
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| spouse = {{marriage|Harry Davis|1938}}
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May Beatrice Davis (née Scott, 30 March 1914 – 13 January 1995) was an English-New Zealand potter.{{cite book|last1=Blumhardt |first1=Doreen |title=Craft New Zealand: The art of the craftsman |date=1981 |publisher=A.H. & A.W. Reed |location=Auckland |isbn=0589013432 |page=220 |url=http://nlnzcat.natlib.govt.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=467995 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20141130205447/http://nlnzcat.natlib.govt.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=467995 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-11-30 }}
Biography
Born in Manchester, Lancashire, England in 1914,{{cite web |url=http://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&db=NZNaturalisations&gss=angs-d&pcat=40&h=54592&ml_rpos=1 |title=Register of persons granted New Zealand citizenship 1969–1977 |url-access=subscription |date=2010 |website= |publisher=Ancestry.com |accessdate=7 February 2015}} Davis studied at Salford Art School and was taught basic pottery skills by Muriel Bell.{{cite web|title=May Davis|url=http://www.philoliver.com/pottery/may.htm|website=Philoliver|accessdate=4 December 2014}} In 1936 she began working at Leach Pottery in Cornwall under David Leach, where she met Harry Davis.{{cite web|title=May DAVIS|url=http://www.cornwallartists.org/cornwall-artists/may-davis|website=Cornwall Artists Index|accessdate=4 December 2014}} They married in London in 1938, and she joined him in Ghana, where he was employed by Crown Agents for the Colonies as Head of Art at Achimota College, Accra. In 1946, they established the Crowan Pottery in Cornwall.{{cite book|last1=Cape|first1=Peter|title=Artists and Craftsmen in New Zealand|publisher=Collins|location=Auckland, London|date=1969|pages=37–39|url=http://nlnzcat.natlib.govt.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=82048|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141130205439/http://nlnzcat.natlib.govt.nz/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=82048|url-status=dead|archive-date=2014-11-30}}
They moved to Nelson, New Zealand, in 1962 and set up the Crewenna Pottery in nearby Wakapuaka.{{cite web|title=Nelson Pottery|url=http://www.theprow.org.nz/arts/pottery/|website=The Prow|accessdate=4 December 2014}} Between 1972 and 1979 they lived in Izcuchaca District, Peru, establishing a pottery workshop in a small community as part of an aid project.{{cite web|title=Harry and May DAVIS|url=http://www.ceramics-aberystwyth.com/davis-harry-may.html|website=Prifysgol Aberystwyth University Ceramic Collection and Archive|accessdate=4 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211004215/http://www.ceramics-aberystwyth.com/davis-harry-may.html|archive-date=11 December 2014|url-status=dead}} They returned to New Zealand in 1979.
Collections
Their work is included in the collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the ceramic collection of Prifysgol Aberystwyth University in Wales.{{cite web|title=Untitled [Harry and May Davis, Crewenna Pottery dish]|url=http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1231730|website=Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa|accessdate=4 December 2014}}
References
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Category:Artists from Manchester
Category:English emigrants to New Zealand
Category:Naturalised citizens of New Zealand
Category:20th-century ceramists
Category:New Zealand women ceramicists
Category:Artists from Nelson, New Zealand
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