Leading Scottish ceramic artist who specialised in Raku and slip-casting techniques, working from his family-run workshop at Tantallon Studios, North Berwick. After serving as an apprentice carpenter, he studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1958 to 1962, becoming a lecturer there in 1965 before being appointed Head of Ceramics at Glasgow School of Art in 1986. He contributed to numerous BBC broadcasts on ceramics, and wrote several books, including The Basics of Throwing, which was published by A. & C. Black in 2008. His work was exhibited throughout the UK and internationally, and can be found in numerous public collections, including the Copenhagen Craft Museum and the Baltimore Art Institute. Important works in Scotland include an installation of wall-mounted Ceramic Plates in the Edinburgh Business School, Herriot Watt University.
Bibliography: Galleria Luti – ‘Dave Cohen: Scottish Ceramic Artist and Master Craftsman 1932–2018’; R. McKenzie, Public Sculpture of Edinburgh (2 vols), Liverpool, 2018, vol. 2, pp. 499, 511.
Ray McKenzie October 2023