www.CHESTERCMS.org The Art of Chester County Polly Davis Chalfant and Rick Davis BY DR. BRUCE A. COLLEY PRESIDENT OF CHESTER COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY A llow me to introduce you to Polly Davis Chalfant and Rick Davis, sister and brother who grew up in East Bradford Township and are both lifetime residents of Chester County. What fun to present Chester County artists who are siblings! I was lucky to spend an afternoon with them recently (outside, of course). It was obvious Rick and Polly adored each other and gushed with admiration and respect for each other. Though I knew of them through mutual friends, I did not really know their "story." And so I learned - one went off to war, the other off to formal art school. The older (sorry, Rick) graduated from Henderson High in 1969 and was off to Vietnam in 1970. While there fighting in Vietnam and Cambodia he met several photojournalists who covered the war. And since they were often hunkered down together he had many extensive conversations with them that kindled his lifelong passion for photography. Upon returning from Vietnam, Rick understood that making a living from photojournalism was nearly impossible, financially. But determined to make photography a career he set up a photography studio in West Chester called Briar Studio from the mid-70s to the mid-80s to do general photography, artistic and portrait continued on page 19 > Left: Polly Davis Chalfant Rick Davis S U M M E R / FA L L 2 0 2 0 | C H E S T E R C O U N T Y M e d i c i n e 1 7http://www.chestercms.org