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Olea Marion Davis (nee Montgomery) was born on May 20, 1899 in Buffalo, New York, of Canadian parents. After graduating from McGill University with a diploma in Physical Education, Olea studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts (Montreal), the Ontario College of Art (Toronto), and at the Vancouver School of Art, under Marega. Following her marriage to Henry Roy Landerkin Davis in 1926, she moved to British Columbia. An accomplished artist and craftsman who was concerned with upgrading standards in the field, Olea Davis taught, organized, and promoted ceramic art at every opportunity. Among her many achievements, she is credited with being the founder and first president of the B.C. Potters' Guild; she was also instrumental in starting summer schools to assist talented potters, and for thirteen years taught a course in ceramics at the University of British Columbia Dept. of Extension, Pine Arts Division. In 1958 Olea Davis, Reg Dixon, Stan Clarke, and Hilda Ross were given a grant by the Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation to conduct a report on BC clays for the UBC Extension Department. During W.W.II, Davis founded the Allied Officers Guild in B.C., and later designed and promoted the "dogwood" lapel ornament as a money-making idea for a wartime women's auxiliary. In 1956, the dogwood flower was adopted as the official floral emblem of B.C.

Born: 1899
Died: 1977