POTTERS
GUILD
of BRITISH

COLUMBIA
a

The Olea Davis Collection By Sharon Cohen

When I began working at the Gallery of B.C. Ceramics two years
ago, I noticed some boxes in our attic storage area. The name “Olea”
was scrawled on the outside. It was early days and I was still ignorant.
“Who or what is “Olea?” I asked Jinny Whitehead. I was told that
Olea Davis was one of the founding members of the Potters’ Guild
of British Columbia, and was a historically relevant potter, one of the
great influences in the B.C. pottery movement several decades ago. At
the time that I joined the gallery, I knew very little about historical
pottery; I tend to have more contemporary leanings myself. But I was
curious. What was in those mystery boxes?

Soon after, Dave Carlin (a gallery customer, ceramic historian and
keen collector), got me curious about the historical B.C. potters.
He and I were fortunate enough to be invited to the home of John
Lawrence, a prolific collector of early B.C. ceramics, in order to
view his personal collection. John sells pottery (amongst many other
treasures) at his store Doda Antiques in downtown Vancouver (434
Richards Street). Having seen John’s store, I knew instinctively that
his home and his personal collections would be awe-inspiring. I wasn't
wrong! In what was probably the most magnificent home I’ve ever
seen (all quaint and quirky and overflowing with personality—and
pottery) was the most extensive and impressive personal collection I’ve
ever seen. John has hundreds of historical ceramic pieces from B.C.
in his collection, including dozens and dozens of Wayne Ngan pieces.
Charmian Johnson, Thomas Kakinuma and many more of the greats
are represented, too.

John and Dave were both lamenting the absence of Olea Davis
pieces in their personal collections. I mentioned the bequest that the
PGBC had received from Olea and that there were these mystery
boxes in our roof storage space. Apparently no one really knows when
the boxes arrived, how long they've been here, who delivered them
and under what circumstances. The collection came to us via Olea’s
son, who is no longer alive. No one knew what was in them. There
was just this vague knowledge that it was Olea’s collection and that it

Was now ours.

Collectors chomping at the bit

Dave and John were chomping at the bit, so it seemed it was time to
brush off the cobwebs and see what lay inside the boxes, as I had two
keen collectors all fired up with curiosity! I must confess I was rather
curious myself at this point...

With Jinny Whitehead away at the time, the happy task of dusting,
unwrapping and exploring the contents of the boxes fell to Debra
Sloan and I. Debra is the keen archivist, and, as I said, I’m more
of a contemporary girl myself! But as we were unwrapping, Debra’s
enthusiasm was infectious and, buoyed also by Dave's and John’s keen
interest, I found myself getting drawn in.

Mystery and allure

‘The newspaper in which some of the pieces were wrapped was dated
1980, which means it’s likely that the work has been sitting here for 30
years—wow! This all just adds to the mystery and allure. It turns out
that the pieces were not just Olea’s work. We also found several pieces
by Santo Mignosa and Thomas Kakinuma. Debra explained to me
that Santo used to work closely with Olea and, apart from ceramics,
he was involved in the theatre as well. He had designed masks for
certain theatrical productions, and they shared an aesthetic similar to
that represented in some of his sculptural forms that we found in the

Vases by Olea Davis.

collection. Examples of

glaze tests were found,

too. Very interesting.
Needless to say, John

and Dave came to

; ; Glaze experiments.
view the collection and
were very excited by it.
A week or two later, as we were hosting the opening of Keith Rice-
Jones’ exhibition here at the gallery, Santo Mignosa attended. I was
introduced to him, and the first thing I said was, “Come into my
office, I have a surprise for you!” This must have taken him aback
more than somewhat! The look on his face when he saw pieces he'd
made decades ago—pieces he'd not seen or thought about for many
years—was truly priceless! He was delighted, and the reminiscing that
ensued was extremely gratifying. A real trip down memory lane for
him; stories to tell, fond remembrances rekindled, glaze experiments
revisited.

“That Thomas Kakinuma cat used to sit on a table in Olea’s hallway!”
he told me. It was wonderful having all these personal recollections
associated with the pieces, it brought them all so much alive, added
meaning and deeper relevance.

So now what? Will the pieces go back in their boxes and back into
storage? Hopefully not. John Lawrence mentioned our collection to
David Bellman and Meirion Evans, who will be curating a ceramic
retrospective exhibition for the Surrey Art Gallery sometime next
year or the year after. They've selected some pieces from the collection
they like to borrow for the show. It will be exciting to debut these
pieces; give them the public exposure they deserve. What will happen
to the collection after that exhibition? Nothing is decided yet. These
are issues for the board of directors to consider. In the meantime, it’s

been a wonderful learning experience for me, and a really exciting ride!

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - November 2010

10