BRIEF BIOGRAPHY: Don R Davis

As the son of a Naval Officer, Don’s childhood was spent in various locations including Florida, Italy, California and Hawaii. Graduate Studies in Ceramics were accomplished at Rhode Island School of Design where he received his MFA in 1974.  Most of his career (1976-2001) has been as a full time studio potter working in Asheville, N.C.

From 1994-1995 he was hired as the initial director of Odyssey Center for the Ceramic Arts in Asheville. He is the author of Wheel Thrown Ceramics, published in 1998. In 1999 he took a full time temporary teaching position at ETSU, which changed to “permanent” in 2001 and is currently Associate Professor in the Dept of Art & Design living in Johnson City, TN with his family.  His work is in collections including The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC, The International Museum of Ceramics in Alfred, NY, and Shirikawa Public Hall, Japan. Teaching workshops conducted include La Meridiana, Tuscany, Italy, Atelier Cirkel, Brasschaat, Belgium, University of S.C, The Virginia Museum School, and others.   

He was awarded an invitational artist’s residency for the month of July 2005 at Studio Art Centers International, Florence Italy and conducts an annual course at Spannocchia near Siena, Italy. A lecture, “Ancient Kilns of Europe” was presented at The National Council on Education in the Ceramic Arts Conference in Portland, Oregon in March 2006. The study of ancient kilns remains a major area of research interest.

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