David Duncan Livingston is an extraordinary interiors and architectural photographer whom we've known for a few years through the shop– engaging in conversations with him and his son, and with his interior designer wife with whom we are in community with. David invited Jeffrey to his studio earlier this year to chat about his recent exploration of ceramics. He has studied at Haystack Mountain School of the Arts, San José State University, and the College of Marin. The conversations continued. And as David's work evolved, we were so excited when he presented his early Free Bird sculptures to us. These emotive beings are both quiet and strong. Both still and exude movement. We love the Brutalist imperfections. Together, we have chosen a group of Free Birds for David's first exhibition. We are excited to present these beautiful sculptures to you and a dip into David's mind.
8 Questions
What themes do you pursue in your art?
I’m drawn to the place between what’s known and what’s expressive. In my fine art photography, I seek out places in the built and natural world and use the movement of the camera to create abstract views. In those photos, you can spot the reference points, but something poetic surfaces.
It’s much the same with my Free Bird figures: I take a familiar idiom– porcelain figurines– and abstract them into the suggestion of birds, bypassing traditional refinement and letting the rawness of the moment become held in the time of making.
Tell us about what influences the direction of your craft.
My work grows from a continuum. Nature shaped my early childhood. I spent long hours alone outside, and my urge to create started back in middle school. That solitude within nature continues to inform my sensibility. But I’m equally drawn to the decorative arts, with their deep cultural and historical lineage. I studied design in college; today, I walk with one foot in design history and another in unkept nature. The tension, plus insatiable curiosity, guides my way.
How has your work developed over time?
It’s become more intentional, yet more open to chance. With over forty years of experience, I’ve refined my craft in interior photography. Yet in my art, I guide chance to reveal the unexpected.
What’s the most indispensable item in your studio?
My mind and my hands are my true tools. For my Free Birds, I also rely on universal and timeless elements that I use as tools, such as a piece of wire or a piece of driftwood. My Free Birds could have been made hundreds of years ago. With an outsider mindset, I have less to unlearn than bottom-up practitioners of the craft. My approach is more top-down, emphasizing expressive, evocative, and indifferent to traditional styles, yet also very respectful of them.
Do you collect anything?
Ceramics, mostly. On any given trip, one suitcase is filled with breakable items, objects from France, Italy, Japan, Spain, and Morocco. Often, the piece reflects an idea or a process. I’ve been collecting for over forty years, and somewhere along the way, my fascination went deeper than acquisition, morphing into a creative process. With so much history behind the craft, it took years to find my own language in clay, one that is distinctly mine in both voice and vision, process and production.
What’s the most inspiring thing you’ve seen, read, watched, or listened to recently?
Recently, my visits to centuries-old porcelain houses were transformative. Two standouts were guided tours of the Sèvres and Meissen factories near Paris and Dresden– the birthplaces of Western porcelain objects. To witness centuries of continuity of shaping, glazing, and firing, was inspiring. These objects don’t just decorate; they converse with their time and culture.
What advice would you give to your younger self about your artistic journey?
I’d tell my younger self: lean in sooner, and don’t wait for the perfect moment. Building a life– a home, a family– often felt rational and safe, but art doesn’t live by those rules. I didn’t plan to make these birds; they showed up.
When I was in sixth grade, I kept pigeons, and I remember releasing them into the sky, feeling their wings leave my hands and the sound of flapping wings. Maybe these pieces are like those memories returning home. So, yes! Live fully, surround yourself with inspiring people and things, and don’t overthink it. Let life move through you.
Bonus Question: What role does music play while you work?
Music threads through my life: classical, soulful Romantic, or early Modern. I have a love for the cello, an instrument that fills the air with time and space, and I grew up with seventies album-oriented rock and folk. However, in the studio, I rarely play music; the process itself is the music. My making is in silence and with my thoughts as the back track. On my plein air terrace, the sound of foghorns in the distance, the wind through the trees, a hawk’s cry, or the hoot of an owl– those are the sounds I hear.
David will be at Poet and/the Bench in person on Saturday October 25, 4-7pm. We look forward to you joining us and meeting the artist. His works will be shown ongoing thereafter.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about this collection available online and in our Mill Valley HQ. We can also arrange commissions with David if you are interested in a set of Free Birds with a particular intention.
~ Bonnie & Jeffrey
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hello@poetandthebench.com | 415.569.4383 | 11 Throckmorton Ave, Mill Valley, CA 94941