CATEGORIES
What We Make
Wheel Thrown
Functional and decorative ware thrown on the potters wheel: table ware, bakeware, vases, and more.
Hand Built
Functional, decorative, and outdoor pieces: platters, servers, sushi plates, birdhouses, and more.
Commissioned
We can create custom pieces for tableware, bakeware, decorative, and outdoor to your specifications in size, shape, or glaze color and technique.
Why Froggy Mountain ?
We moved into our new home on top of Banner Mountain in Nevada City, California in the spring of 2015. We were soon greeted by the croak of a lone frog who seemed to have awakened after his winter's sleep in the pond on our property.
We named him "Norman".
Norman's lonely croak lasted only a day. The next evening, another frog answered, as though they were having a conversation.
"Croak." . . . "Croak, croak."
Within a couple of days, this two way conversation became a from a whole community of tree frogs—and the Naberschnackle Choir was born!
Norman and the Naberschnackle Choir return every spring to serenade us up on top of Banner Mountain.
In many cultures, frogs symbolize good things: abundance, prosperity, rebirth, and growth. When it came time to name our new business, what better name than Froggy Mountain Pottery!
Bob Davis, Artisan Potter & Sculptor
In 1970, I left home in the San Francisco Bay Area to pursue a career in art and enrolled in Fine Art at Long Beach State University in Southern California. I enrolled to study drawing/painting, but in my first semester I took a ceramics class, and that was it for me. I fell in love with clay and have not yet fallen out of love with it. Long Beach State was focused on functional stoneware pottery in the Japanese tradition.
I did not finish my four-year degree there, but I did find the love of my life, Susan. We were married in 1973 and I pursued a career in building, sailboats–actually, world-class yachts. At the same time, I produced pottery for sale through the California craft fair circuit, which I did for three years.
In 1976 we relocated back to the San Francisco Bay Area, to finish my pursuit of a career in Art. I studied at San Jose State with David Middlebrook and Linda Rosenus, where the emphasis was ceramic sculpture. I put myself through graduate school, earning an MFA by working in the trades, and with the hard work and help of my wife, Susan, I continued to create and sell functional ceramics.
I received my MFA in Sculpture in 1983, the same year our first son was born. At that point my family took priority, and I established a construction business that lasted 25+ amazing, wonderful years. Susan and I worked side-by-side in our residential design/build firm, Spectrum Fine Homes, Inc.
In 2011, we had to make the difficult decision to close the doors of our design/build firm. But this also opened up the opportunity to move to Nevada County, California, where we love living in the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains and enjoy being part of the wonderful community, here.
I am finding my way, reconnecting with my art and love of creating functional stoneware and porcelain pottery for others to use and enjoy. And now, with Froggy Mountain Pottery , we want to share our ware, crafted with much more than skill — each piece contains joy and love that I've experienced throughout my life.
ENJOY!
Workshops
Get your hands in the mud!
Learn about working with clay, wheel-throwing, hand-building, embellishing.
"Bob Davis is an amazing ceramics teacher. He is patient and comprehensive in his teaching, and his talent in almost all styles of work is astounding. I highly recommend him as a teacher." —Sharon Robertson
Follow Along
I'm most often in the studio, but you can find
Froggy Mountain Pottery
on social media, too.
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