May Beatrice Davis (née Scott, 30 March 1914 – 13 January 1995) was an English-New Zealand

potter A potter is someone who makes pottery. Potter may also refer to: Places United States *Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US * Potter, Arkansas *Potter, Nebraska * Potters, New Je ...

Biography

Born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, Lancashire, England in 1914, Davis studied at Salford Art School and was taught basic pottery skills by

Muriel Bell Muriel Emma Bell (4 January 1898 – 2 May 1974) was a New Zealand nutritionist and medical researcher. Early life Bell was born in Murchison, New Zealand on 4 January 1898, the daughter of Thomas, a farmer, and Eliza (). Bell attended the lo ...

. In 1936 she began working at Leach Pottery in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

under David Leach, where she met Harry Davis. They married in London in 1938, and she joined him in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, where he was employed by

Crown Agents for the Colonies A crown agency was an administrative body of the British Empire, distinct from the Civil Service Commission of Great Britain or the government administration of the national entity in which it operated. These enterprises were overseen from 1833 ...

as Head of Art at

Achimota College Achimota School ( /ɑːtʃimoʊtɑː/ ), formerly Prince of Wales College and School at Achimota, later Achimota College, now nicknamed Motown, is a co-educational boarding school located at Achimota in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana. The schoo ...

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

. In 1946, they established the Crowan Pottery in Cornwall. They moved to Nelson, New Zealand, in 1962 and set up the Crewenna Pottery in nearby Wakapuaka. Between 1972 and 1979 they lived in Izcuchaca District,

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, establishing a pottery workshop in a small community as part of an aid project. They returned to New Zealand in 1979.

Collections

Their work is included in the collection of

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

and the ceramic collection of Prifysgol

Aberystwyth University , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

References

1914 births 1995 deaths Artists from Manchester British emigrants to New Zealand Naturalised citizens of New Zealand English potters New Zealand potters Women potters 20th-century ceramists New Zealand women ceramicists Artists from Nelson, New Zealand {{NewZealand-artist-stub