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Liberating the Infinite Possibilities Beneath the Surface: David MacDonald

Chenoa Baker

May 1, 2024

“There is no end to what we would try if we didn’t start at the beginning. But I enjoy the beginning, the struggle, and discerning progress.” – David MacDonald (b. 1945, Hackensack, New Jersey)

I first became acquainted with Professor MacDonald’s work when my parents planted a seed: my family acquired a casserole dish in 1994 for the office of my grandmother, Dr. Sylvia Norton, MD. Later on, the work lived another life in my childhood home on the northeast side of Syracuse. This life included a permanent spot on the Stickley side table in the dining room for display only, as my parents imbued a preciousness into the work. Not only did the brown color and pattern fit into their hybrid interior design scheme of Arts and Crafts style and African aesthetics, but it also brought the space together. It witnessed formal dinners, craft projects, homework-induced tears while learning the ‘new math’ via the ‘old math’ from my father, and the growing up of myself and my younger brother.

On February 17, 2024, I spent the day researching and getting to know Professor MacDonald. Upon his picking me up from where I stayed, I saw that he was reading Craft: An American History by Glenn Adamson, to which he attributes expanding his view on what craft is and could be. Then we went to a diner on the east side of Syracuse, NY, called All Night Eggplant. We both ordered the combo and got right into our questions for each other. The gray iridescence of his eyes twinkled when he talked about his wife and ceramics. He sat across from me, facing the window, wearing a beanie and a gray henley. 

Chenoa Baker: What questions do you wish you were asked as an artist? Oftentimes, you get questions from people, but they may not be the questions that you wish or want to talk about.

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