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(Available each month to Tile Heritage members who e-mail the Foundation from the address they
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Here’s What’s Below:Fitz Tile Commemorative500 Tiles Ohio Factory Tour Elephants Cowan at Rocky River Planing Shale at Summitville Friends at Kepcor Ironrock's Tiles and Bricks Stan Hywet Hall Superior Clay Stepping Back in Zoar Dazed at Belden Brick Artfind Feast Seneca: Having Cake… Ashland Call for Entries |
Fitz Tile Creates Unique CommemorativeChuck Fitzgerald of Fitz Tile in El Cajon, California has designed a commemorative tile for the Tile Heritage Foundation. Dated 2007 each tile presents the Tile Heritage logo embraced by the human hand. The muted glaze treatment enhances the hand-molded piece that is designed to hang (as shown) on a vertical surface. Chuck is a third generation tile designer and setter who has been making tiles by hand for the past 15 years. He specializes in the design and manufacture of interlocking geometric shapes and sizes for both residential and commercial use. Visit his website at www.fitztile.com. Over the past 20 years a select group of artists have designed and produced commemorative tiles for Tile Heritage. In the early years, as the Foundation was building its membership base, the annual tiles were given away free to members. At some point in the mid-1990s this became impractical, as there were too many members to serve. At that point the decision was made to offer the tiles for sale, which provided Tile Heritage with the opportunity for a fundraiser as well as the funds to reimburse the tile makers for their work. A special Tile Heritage salute to Chuck Fitzgerald, whose pride of membership is reflected in this unique commemorative design. The 2007 tile may be purchased from Tile Heritage. Price: $45 (apply your member discount!), add 7.75% sales tax for California residents, plus $8 for Priority mail. |
500 Tiles: An Inspiring Collection of International Work500 Tiles, the most recent addition to Lark Ceramics Books, presents 500 handmade clay tiles from a juried collection selected by tile artist, Angelica Pozo, author of Making & Installing Handmade Tiles. All of the entries are essentially decorative in nature, from relief work to mosaics, and represent the many ways that artists can interpret a basic element. "Perhaps it is because the 'tile,' by definition, has such minimal requirements," postulates Ms. Pozo, "that artists have been attracted to making tile in the first place. I'm convinced that the tile truly must be the perfect universal vehicle for artistic expression in clay." This book is a must for everyone who loves tile! Within its 420 pages the sweeping survey of contemporary work will serve as an inspiration to both beginners and professional tile makers as well as collectors and anyone who appreciates fine craftsmanship. In stock and priced at $24.95 (plus $6 for shipping/handling and 7.75% sales tax for CA residents), you may choose to support Tile Heritage by ordering the book now! |
Ohio Factory TourMid-October found sixteen tile 'fanatics' cruising through the state of Ohio, luxuriating on our bus (more like a limosine!), for the planned THF tour of tile factories and studios. Joe Taylor and I flew into Canton in advance, and on our first day we took a foray north, before the official tour, to Cleveland, specifically to visit the zoo. |
Elephants in ClevelandOur destination was the Elephant House at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, home to the sculptural work of Viktor Schreckengost, the renowned artist, sculptor, designer and musician. Born in 1906 he's now 101 years young and is celebrated and feted for his contributions and accomplishments. The elephant sculptures where commissioned in the mid-1950s. In addition to these massive wall sculptures he also designed tiles for the zoo's aviary that has since been razed. The tiles have been preserved and moved to an interpretive area in the zoo's information building. |
Cowan at Rocky River LibraryLater in the day, on a recommendation from longtime THF member Nancy McCroskey, we made our way to another unique venue, this one just west of Cleveland-the recently renovated Rocky River Library, which houses the Cowan Pottery Museum. R. Guy Cowan founded the Cowan Pottery Studio in Lakewood, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland) in 1912. He
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Planing Shale at SummitvilleMonday morning, October 15th we were all on the, together for the first time-a coach like no other with white leather lounge seats, illuminated mirrors and a couple of icy fridges to boot! We headed east through the lovely countryside to Summitville Tiles where we were greeted by Dave Johnson, the president of the company. The Summitville story dates back to 1912 when shale and clay were dug by steam shovel, when beehive kilns were loaded by hand and fired by coal and when the offices of the Summit Brick Company were housed in the old abandoned C & P Railroad Station. This
Our plant tour started with a visit to one of the company's shale quarries where the raw materials for their pavers and tiles are mined. What a fascinating experience! In the quarry bed we met the other-worldly machinery known as a shale planer, a device that looks like something from a Star Wars film that has an 'appetite' for grazing on the vertical fascia of the shale quarry walls. The shale is harvested in this way and then trucked to the manufacturing plant in Minerva. Dave told us that over the last century Summitville has operated its shale harvesting operation in an eco-responsible way. On our journey to the tile plant he pointed out local terrain, owned by Summitville, both wooded and meadowland, totally restored, land that was once open-face shale pits like the one we visited. This sensitivity to the environment and voluntary restoration over such a long period of time is not common even today where more stringent parameters for raw material extraction are being set. Kudos to Summitville Tiles! See www.summitville.com.
We then toured the tile plant in Minerva where quarry tiles, thin brick and Summitville's unique product, Strata, are produced. Strata is
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Friends at KepcorAfter lunch we were on the bus headed back to Minerva to visit Kepcor, not far from the
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Ironrock’s Tiles and BricksTuesday the 16th was another bright morning as we headed, this time to Ironrock, southeast of downtown Canton. The factory is home to MetroBrick, Metropolitan Ceramics and the Meredith Collection, all of which fit neatly under the umbrella of Ironrock, makers of bricks and tiles since 1866! Our host, Guy Renkert, the company’s president, affirmed the commitment of five generations of his family to consistently produce high quality ceramic
Guy and Roy Gorton, Senior VP of Operations at Ironrock, were our informative tour guides. The factory is superbly modern, clean, efficient and run with great appreciation for recycling, reclaiming and reusing materials, making for an eco-friendly environment. Our hosts patiently answered our questions as we followed the process of all the different products being manufactured from the raw material, through forming, firing, finishing, quality control and boxing, ready to ship. We saw a wonderful array of quarry tiles and pavers as well as the hand-carved and hand-painted Meredith Collection art tiles and the lovely Victorian-style Irongate tiles. See www.ironrock.com. |
Stan Hywet HallAfter a substantial lunch (is there any other kind in Ohio?) at a fine local establishment we headed north to Akron to visit Stan Hywet Hall, a National Historic Landmark. The 65-room Tudor-style mansion was built in 1912 by Goodyear Rubber Company founder, F.A. Seiberling and his wife Gertrude. Stan Hywet, designed by Cleveland architect, Charles Sumner Schneider, is named for the Old English words for "hewn stone," not after a person as is commonly believed. The mansion and elaborate gardens are open to the public. We met with curator Laurie Gilles for a lively discussion concerning the tile installations found throughout the mansion on fireplaces, in bathrooms and kitchens as well as in the large swimming pool located in the basement of the home. We had free rein in both the house and the gardens with plenty of time to admire the fine woodwork, textiles, furnishings and exceptional landscaping. We hope at some point to share some pictures with you; alas, photography was not allowed in the house. Rain in the late afternoon had us scampering for cover. The bookshop and gift store provided a reprieve from the weather and an opportunity to shop—a prerequisite for THF tours! For more information: www.stanhywet.org. |
Superior Clay
Superior Clay in Uhrichsville was our Wednesday morning destination. Built more than 100 years ago, Superior's plant has been continuously operating ever since. The company has long been known for a wide variety of high quality clay products; we were all intrigued by the scope. Our guide was Dana Martini, and we followed him through a maze of nooks and crannies, upstairs and down of this historic clay factory observing the craftspeople at work preparing clay, filling massive
The yard at Superior was showered by rain brightening the reds and golds of the stacked pipe and chimney pots, leaving the fabulous beehive kilns glistening in the soft light. These old kilns are no longer in use but offer a picturesque backdrop to the factory and all the finished ware in storage. www.superiorclay.com We enjoyed our welcome and our luncheon at Joe Berni’s Deli followed by a side trip to the Union Cemetery. Dana had explained that for about 100 years workers from Superior Clay had used the large extrusions of clay pipe to carve unusual tree-like grave markers for loved ones and colleagues. With a little research we found that similar markers have been made by the Woodman Society and can be found in other parts of the country. However, these are generally carved in stone and have the Woodman insignia carved on them. The clay pipe markers at Union Cemetery had the names and dates of the deceased but no special insignia. It remains a bit of a mystery, another piece of Americana experienced on route. |
Stepping Back in ZoarOn Wednesday afternoon we stopped in the township of Zoar founded by German religious dissenters in 1817 as a communal society. Called the Society of Separatists of Zoar, the people built homes, a grist mill, a dairy, a bakery and even a tile plant to make terra cotta roof tiles for their dwellings. Our host and community guide, Chuck Knaack, toured us through the local museum and several of the restored buildings that are generally staffed with costumed interpreters and furnished with items made or used by the historic Zoar community. Today Zoar is an island of Old World charm—a village-sized museum! Many of the German-style structures built by the Zoarites are open to the public as Zoar Village State Memorial. Others, privately-owned, serve as residences, shops, restaurants and bed and breakfast inns. It was a pleasure to step back in time. For more go to ohsweb.ohiohistory.org. |
Dazed at Belden BrickA rainy Thursday morning found us at our next tour destination, Belden Brick Company in Sugarcreek south of Canton.
Looking around we saw immediately that the brick plant was massive – acres of it! The company is 120 years old and actually has seven plants (six tunnel
Initially, we watched as bricks were made the old-fashioned way, extruded, and then sorted by hand. The historic, brick beehive kilns were of special
We then moved to one of the more modern facilities, first hiking up catwalks to the top of the plant where raw materials, shale and clay were trucked into the giant maws of the grinding equipment. It was by far the noisiest location, mesmerizing but deafening! Unlike the shale we had seen ‘planed’ to a small size right in the quarry at the Summitville site, this material was big,
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Artfind FeastAfter a lunch stop in a traditional Amish Country restaurant we headed for Wooster. The rain had stopped and the sun was shining once again. Our destination was Artfind Tile, the design studio, gallery
Brigid and Eric pulled out all the stops at Artfind. While touring their beautifully restored showroom we stopped by the recently dedicated Wayne County Public Library, today a ‘state of the
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Seneca: Having Cake and Eating it too!On Friday the 19th, the last day of our tour, we headed out early for the long ride west through the harvested cornfields to Seneca Tiles in Attica, Ohio where our hosts, Connie and Jim Fry, first gave us a run down on the history of their company. They produce a wide variety of handmade tiles, both Seneca and Epro tiles, and also import and distribute Italian porcelain tiles and a lovely glass mosaic. Seneca is the largest producer of authentically handmade tiles in the United States, a
We toured the plant from top to bottom, enjoying all of the processes and observing how the different tile lines are produced, from soft clay pressed by hand into old-style, wooden molds to some of the more sophisticated and mechanized processes used to produce Seneca Satins. Probably the most exciting thing for all of us was observing the old beehive downdraft kilns in the kiln barn where from start to finish the firing process takes almost a week. Heat from these kilns is routed to dry the wares before firing and the kiln barn also accommodates sorting and packing the fired wares. It is a wonderful place. As we were so far out in the country, Jim and Connie graciously hosted us to a lovely luncheon in their showroom where we could admire the multiple ways that the different Seneca and Epro tile lines and color ways come together in pleasing palettes in the same manner as they are found in the many tile showrooms across the country. See www.senecatiles.com and www.eprotile.com. |
Historic AshlandIt was then time to head east again to Ashland, our last stop of the day. Here, tile enthusiast Dotty Tennis had arranged a walking tour through historic homes on or adjacent to Center Street. Several of the homes, built in the early years of the 20th century, had magnificent Moravian tile mantels—I think we saw five different configurations in all! Dotty then hosted us to tea and cakes at her own home where we saw several examples of rare Unitiles from Uhrichsville installed in the
When you’re into tiles, you can never say goodbye to Ohio, the cradle of tile manufacturing in the U.S. There is always more to see—even where you’ve already been—and we’d like to thank our hosts for making this a most memorable week for all of us, one where we learned so much and yet were able to share our own knowledge and as we honed our expertise. Sheila Menzies |
Call for Entries: Spectrum and Prism Awards presented by CoveringsDeadline: February 1, 2008. For details, Click Here |
Call for Entries: Friends of K-12 ClayFriends of K-12clay website, www.k12clay.org, is now open for the 2008 Call for Entries. Closing deadline is January 9, 2008. All information needed for submitting entries to the 2008 juror, Richard Burkett, is on the website. All ceramic teachers are encouraged to send in entries, spread the word via state art organizations, vendors, teachers groups, word of mouth, and any other means. The organization is celebrating the end of its 10th anniversary year and its $10,000 matching grant (which is still operating and still matching all donations!). The hope is for the best and largest show ever in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the 2008 NCECA Conference, March 19-22. The National K-12 Ceramic Exhibition Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization. |
Call for Entries: National Ceramic CompetitionIn April 2008 The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts will host its 17th National Ceramic Competition, continuing a tradition of support and recognition of contemporary ceramic arts. The first competition was held in 1986. It remained an annual exhibit through 1996, when, due to its growing size and popularity, the museum changed the competition to a biennial event. Far more than an exhibit, the April ceramics show is a 3-day event which is jointly hosted by the museum, Angelo State University and The Old Chicken Farm Art Center. The museum's opening reception of the ceramics exhibit is one of the highlights and is accompanied by a ceramic symposium at the university and a day long workshop at The Old Chicken Farm Art Center. There are numerous other gallery openings, a barbecue dinner, and 3 days of ceramic discussions. For each competition the museum chooses a well known and qualified juror within the ceramic community to curate the show. This year the juror is Anna Stanfield Harris, Curator, Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art, Biloxi, Mississippi. An exhibit of over 100 pieces, covering a wide spectrum of styles across the United States, Canada and Mexico, is chosen?from often over 1500 entries. Prizes include the Tile Heritage Prix Primo that awards $750 to the tile maker whose tile in the juror's estimation best reflects the ceramic traditions of North America. Click here for the Call for Entries. Deadline: February 4, 2008. |
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