Alumni News
Alumni News
Potter Bill Daley is as down-to-earth as the mud he shapes]
By: Kelsey Rogalewicz
His ceramic vessels have been displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, South Korea’s Clayarch Gimhae Museum and the Stedelijk Museum in the Netherlands. Yet no one would accuse Bill Daley (M.A. ’51) of taking himself too seriously. Daley, who survived a German prison camp during World War II, sees play as a major element of his art.
Decades after discovering his medium during alone-day ceramics class at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, the 89-year-old artist, who bills himself as one of “TC’s Emeritus Mudmen,” still dons his trademark, hand-made newspaper hats while he works in the cellar studio of his Pennsylvania home.
His hand built, slab, unglazed works have been praised for a “deceptive simplicity” that echoes “ancient symbols and architectural spaces,” but in spirit may be equally grounded in the beet-and-spinach-juice drawings Daley did on paper bags in second grade.
Daley, who likes to call himself “a teacher of makers” as well as “a maker of pots,” has brought that same spirit to his own classrooms. At Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, where he taught for 30 years before retiring in 1990 as an emeritus professor, Daley was known for tapping students’ intuitions by, for example, dropping 500 Ping-Pong balls from a box on the ceiling and challenging his classes to “draw what just happened.”
It’s an approach he arrived at in part through his time at TC, which he vividly recalls for its camaraderie, its balance of studio and theoretical work and, perhaps most of all; the bust of John Dewey that welcomed him to what is now Zankel Hall.
“Dewey is one of my absolute, total heroes,” Daley says. “Art as Experience is at the core of my teaching way.” Daley’s most recent show, titled “William Daley: 14 for 7,” debuted with the Philadelphia Art Alliance in spring 2014 and appeared this fall at The Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston. The show featured two pieces from each of the seven decades of Daley’s career.
“After all this time, it is still exciting for me,” he says. “I’m very fortunate to be a teacher of makers and a becoming artist alongside them. My life of making has been pretty joyous.”
And On the Other Coast
TC Trustee Eduardo Martí (who in October was named Interim President of Bronx
Community College in New York City) and his wife, Patricia, attended the College’s
Boston-area alumni gathering. President Susan Fuhrman (Ph.D. ‘77) shared news of campus events, research by TC faculty and the progress of Where the Future Comes First, the College’s $300-million Campaign.
Alumni Association President’s Message
Dear TC Colleagues and Friends,
It’s been another year of progress and change- and Loss- at TC. In October, we mourned the passing of two legendary faculty members, George Bond and Maxine Greene, while celebrating their impact on generations of graduates. The memorial events and tributes made it abundantly clear that TC is a special place full of special people. Read more about the legacies of Professors Bond and Greene beginning on page 26.
Where the Future Comes First: The Campaign for Teachers College is in full swing, and the Alumni Council and Office of Alumni Relations are working on one of its key priorities: to engage TC alumni and friends. We’ve planned a year of incredible events and opportunities to connect on TC’s campus, nationwide, around the globe and online. So stay connected at www.tc.edu/alumni; join the dialogue on social media or attend one of our many events; and let us know if you’d like to help plan an event near you. And, of course, tell us your TC memories and current achievements so we can share them as a community.
I look forward to meeting you as we continue to celebrate all that is Teachers College.
Sincerely
Patrick P. McGuire (ED.D ’94)
President
Teachers College
Alumni Association
Published Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015
