St. Louis native Michael Davis makes a living recreating the irreplaceable
By Traci Angel
Photograph by Pete Riesett
Kaleidoscope-hued shards of glass are littered about his Long Island City, N.Y., workshop, and as he works, a fiery glassmaking furnace waits to take another mouthful. His mastered trade is so distinctive, he is one of only a handful of such artisans, and people from all over the world seek his help to replicate antiques and restore them to their original ornate state.
Davis’ portfolio includes a shattered 19th century glass chandelier with a starburst pattern (it was dropped by movers), a restoration of church windows by John La Farge and Louis Comfort Tiffany and a mantel made of clear cast glass based on a Dorothy Draper design.
Gary Behm, president and owner of theSt. Louis Antique Lighting Company, re-cently commissioned Davis to restore light-ing at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville. Behm had tried two other specialists before hiring Davis to re-create the vivid crimson lights, which were made with three intricate layers of glass.
When he can, Davis begins with pieces from a broken window, vase or fixture. At other times, he must guess how to emulate the original, then find a manufacturing pattern. “They all have some unique wrinkle,” he says, noting that there are about four or five ways glass objects are made. “If you’ve seen enough projects, you are able to recognize a technique. But even if you are able to identify what it was and how it was made, that doesn’t mean you can reproduce it, or the cost will be worth it to the client.”
The Clayton High graduate remembers staring at masterpieces at the Saint Louis Art Museum, copying cartoon characters from comic books and taking ballet on a dare. When he studied at Beloit College in Wisconsin, art did not seem a realistic professional goal. “My professors were like, ‘You better have your day job.’” Davis added an art education degree as backup, but discovered glassmaking was his calling when he became mesmerized by ornate cathedral windows while hitchhiking around Europe. He eventually found his niche in the New York art scene.
Now he often visits St. Louis with his three daughters, stopping by The Magic House and swimming at Clayton’s Shaw Park pool. Davis views the City Museum as an “international gem” and swears he actually misses St. Louis humidity. He says he’d like to open a gallery in St. Louis someday. But don’t expect him to move back full time.
“I’m a stress junkie,” he admits. “I couldn’t leave New York.”
For more information on Davis’ work, go to www.michaeldavisglass.com.
