David Joy received an undergraduate degree in education with a concentration in ceramics from Framingham State University. After teaching two years at a local high school, he moved to the Southwest, where he was to spend the better part of the next decade, studying first in Los Angeles and then moving to the University of New Mexico, where he received an MA in ceramics with a minor in education. Influenced by geography and the work of indigenous native ceramics, he developed low-fire alternative techniques which became the trademark of his work.
He returned to the East Coast, where he studied at Tyler School of Art and received an MFA in ceramics. He then served as art department chairman and taught ceramics at Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia for nearly two decades.
His most recognizable work takes its shape in double-walled open forms. They are often shown alongside elliptical or spherical enclosed forms. The organic beauty of Joy’s geometrical forms, predominantly orbs and double-walled bowls colored in soft, earthen hues, suggest a variety of historical associations, but are by no means simply primitive or archaeological.
Joy has commented: “While hoping to evoke in the viewer a desire to reconnect with some of the more satisfying and enriching aspects of the past, these are objects that are of our time reflecting a wide interpretation of ideas that can be at once both complex and sometimes contradictory.”
Since the early 1980’s, Joy has been perfecting the art of producing emotionally resonant vessel-like forms that have been positively reviewed by leading national ceramic publications. He has been exhibiting his sculptures in solo and group exhibitions nationwide, and has also lectured widely as a visiting artist.