Flora Davis Biography

Oklahoma, USA, 1952

Flora Davis is a mid-career artist from San Francisco, California. Her current work consists of wooden geometric forms that are meticulously covered in colorful veneers of treated metal.

She received a MFA in Painting from Summit University, LA in 1990. As a result of this program she began to incorporate her interest in Buddhism with her art. One teaching of the Buddha that she uses for inspiration is the understanding of impermanence; that nothing stays the same. For over twenty- five years she worked as a graphic designer, then later as a teacher, teaching both graphic design and basic design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

Selected Individual Exhibitions

2008 - Gallery 645. San Francisco. USA 2007 - PicassMio.com

2006 - California Institute of Integral Studies. San Francisco, USA.

2001 - Sharon Park Gallery. Menlo Park, USA.

2000 - Chandler Fine Art. San Francisco, USA.

1999 - Chandler Fine Art. San Francisco, USA.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2006 - Art People Gallery. San Francisco, USA. - Earth Tones-California Abstracts & Photography, ZYT Gallery. Los Altos, USA.

2004 - Gensler. San Francisco, USA. - ZYT Gallery. Los Altos, USA.

2003 - ZYT Gallery. Los Altos, USA.

2002 - ZYT Gallery. Los Altos, USA.

1999 - Aguirre Gallery. San Mateo, USA.

1998 - Museum West Fine Art. San Francisco, USA.

1993 - Spectrum Gallery. San Francisco, USA.

1990 - Modesto Junior College Gallery. CA, USA.

1985 - Canassa Gallery. San Francisco, USA.

1996 - State of the Arts, Center for the Visual Arts. Oakland, USA.

1995 - Group Show, Gallery House Gallery. Palo Alto, USA.

1992 - 38th Annual National Juried Exhibition, San Diego Art Institute. San Diego, USA.

1991 - Intimate Spaces, Gallery 57. Fullerton, USA.

1991 - 20th Annual Works on Paper, Southwest Texas State University. USA

Selected Collections

  • The Mellon Foundation. San Francisco, USA.
  • Chapman & Culter LLP. San Francisco, USA.
  • Jones Day. San Francsico, USA.
  • Adobe Systems. San Jose, USA.
  • Manatt, Phelps & Sacto. Sacramento, USA.

Artist's Statement

Over the years, my Buddhist practice has reinforced the way I approach art making, which is to begin with an open mind/no mind. I may have an idea of what I want to create or an inspiration, yet I will allow my mind to become soft, and let the materials dictate the process of the unfolding creation. My work is thus spontaneously made. I find my subject matter and inspiration in nature, such as in the textures and patterns on rocks, a field of blowing grass, or monolithic rock formations in Yosemite Valley. I am not interested in representing reality, but the beauty I experience in reality. My work is therefore abstract, as I strive toward simplicity of forms and shapes and textures. For many years my materials were quite literally made from nature. I used clay, wax, sand, charcoal as my medium, adding leaves and sticks as accents. Gradually I began to add metals, and by 2002 they took over completely. Why did metal as copper, steel, aluminum, brass become my new fascination? I am not sure, other than they gradually grabbed my attention as I learned, through multiple application of ingredients, to work an amazing range of patterns, textures and colors on the surface. The “ingredients” range from kitchen staples like salt, water, vinegar, and baking soda, to cleaning products like bleach, ammonia, and Comet cleanser, to other agents such as sawdust, muriatic acid and commercially produced metal surfacers.