Local 9 Michigan Retiree Turns Artist

An old knee injury finally forced Local 9 MI bricklayer David Smallidge to retire, but it didn’t end his desire or ability to work with his hands. Here’s his story:

Local 9 Michigan retired bricklayer David Smallidge poses with one of his porcelain creations. At left, another work appears on an invitation to Smallidge’s show last year at the Ezir Gallery in New York City.

During the recession of the 1980s, I lost my business of fifteen years (Wonderland Mason Construction Co., of Flint, Michigan). My family went from prosperity to food stamps. In an effort to help my “nerves,” my wife and sons gave me a pottery class as a gift. At the time, I felt it was the most stupid thing I ever received. I looked in that window several times before I worked up enough nerve to go into the class.

The connection with clay was instant and I owe it mostly to my life with clay. I am a third generation journeyman brickmason and I am also a porcelain artist. My life with clay from then on was a given. I went from stoneware and made an attempt at wheel throwing, but found my niche in hand-built, hand-painted porcelain. From the beginning, I believe my lifelong preoccupation with measurement, geometric design, and a sense of “things working out” in masonry was a driving force.

I continued to work as a mason to support my family, and myself but porcelain became an ever-greater part of my life. The art world was very receptive and encouraging, and in 1989 I received a Michigan Council of the Arts grant. This grant gave me the time and money to really immerse myself in learning just how far you can “bend the clay.”
At this writing, I recently exhibited my work at the Ezair Gallery in New York City, which is not a bad “send-off” for an ever-young “brickie!”

So, at age 68, I am retiring from a life of bricklaying, and it is truly
not without regret! But next year, with a “new knee” and a “career change,” who knows?

Hang in there, all of you who are out there making a more beautiful world for the rest of the USA. God bless you, and vote Democratic!