The Handmade Tile Association and the Tile Heritage Foundation are presenting
a 4-day conference in Minneapolis, September 13-16, 2006, consisting of lectures,
tours and a one-day tile festival and sale at the American Swedish Institute on Saturday, the 16th.
Similar to the Tile Heritage symposiums of former years, the emphasis will be on bringing the tile
community together. The event will offer optional activities, limited in size, that attendees will
register for in advance. Both the topics and tour sites will be different from the “Tiles in
the Twin Cities” symposium in 2002. Watch for further details in the coming months.
We’re calling on tile makers, tile painters, mold makers, architectural ceramists and
mosaic artists who enjoy teaching and sharing their expertise. For the past 6 years
throughout the U.S. many dedicated artisans have been offering opportunities for people
to enhance their experience with clay and mosaic. Under the auspices of
“Keeping the Craft Alive,” presented by the Tile Heritage Foundation, you can
participate right in your own studio, offering your expertise to your own community!
To find out more please email foundation@tileheritage.org or call 707 431-8453
by November 25th to express your interest. Details are available from Sheila Menzies,
KCA Coordinator.
Few things are more personally fulfilling than sharing.
Cleota Reed, author, scholar, and tile historian extraordinaire, has produced a handsome,
conveniently small booklet of tile sites in Spain’s capital city. Featuring numerous pictures in
full color, Madrid’s Pictorial Tiles: A Walking Tour includes a map of the city and
maps of two specific walks within its 50 pages. For more details write to Cleota, cleotar@earthlink.net.
Some months ago we featured in “E-News” a publication titled Uncommon Clay: New Jersey’s
Architectural Terra Cotta Industry. Susan Kittredge, Assistant Director of the Cultural
and Heritage Commission of Middlesex County that published the book, wrote to Tile Heritage that
the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) had selected this book as an award
winner in 2005. The AASLH Awards Program is the nation’s most prestigious competition for
recognition of achievement in state and local history. Thanks to the generosity of
Susan Tunick at Friends of Terra Cotta, who wrote the Preface to the book, we have
a limited number of copies of this book available to THF members at no cost. Simply
email us a note
In mid-September Sheila Menzies and Joe Taylor flew to Texas to take part
in the 19th annual Library and Museum Collections Forum, this one titled “The Art and
Craft of Clay: American Pottery & Tiles,” presented by the International
Festival-Institute at Round Top, in the rolling hills halfway between Austin and Houston.
Joe lectured on historic California tiles and was accompanied by Jessie Poesch,
professor emeritus at Tulane University who spoke on Newcomb pottery; Susan Frost,
the leading authority on San Jose tiles and
pottery; and Cheryl Robertson, independent
The International Festival-Institute is the creation of James Dick, its artistic director.
A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, James has spent a career as a touring concert
pianist, and he wanted to create a summer institute like those in Europe that would provide a
setting for young, gifted musicians to study and perform. He founded the campus, called Festival Hill,
in 1974 and set it among the gentle swells of pastures near Round Top, a town of 81 people in Fayette County.
The 1,100-seat Festival Concert Hall serves as the focal point of the 200-acre campus devoted to classical music.
See www.festivalhill.org.
“Faces of Petaluma” will ultimately provide this northern California
community with handmade clay images of its own citizens, decorating a fountain
in the central downtown area. Promoted by the local Chamber of Commerce and
sponsored by the Petaluma Arts Council and local businesses, the project
is headed by ceramic artist Donna Billick of Davis, who on a weekend in
late September was overwhelmed by the
By 1 p.m. on the first day, the 300 slabs of clay brought by the artist were claimed;
people were turned away and asked to come back the next day. Most, however, stood
around watching others work.
At the end of the day the faces were carefully placed in trays and loaded
into the artist’s van to be ferried to Davis for firing. At some point next
year they’ll all be brought back and installed, putting a new face,
as it were, on downtown Petaluma.
The Institute of Mosaic Art (IMA) at 3001 Chapman St. in Oakland,
California held its grand opening celebration on September 24th complete
with outrageous costumes, a band from Ghana, and numerous celebrities.
Mosaic artist Laurel True, the heart and soul of the new Institute,
was first inspired when she apprenticed with master mosaicist,
Isaiah Zagar of Philadelphia. For over a dozen years since then
Laurel has been teaching as well as being engaged in both privately
commissioned mosaic artwork and community projects in the U.S. and in Ghana.
Both Isaiah Zagar and Donna Billick were present, each
holding week-long workshops. Donna focused on the production of monumental
mosaic sculptures while Isaiah directed a group in the creation of a large-scale
mosaic mural on the Institute’s façade using primarily broken tiles and a
string of mirrors, the trade mark of his craft.
IMA offers classes, workshops, ongoing exhibitions of mosaic art and
serves as a supply house for mosaic materials as well.
IMA is a designated “tile joint,” authorized as such by the
Tile Heritage Foundation, a place where tile enthusiasts can stop
by and browse through a wide assortment of books on tiles and mosaics in
its resource library. Back issues of Tile Heritage publications are
available to read through, and self-guided tile and mosaic tours of
Bay Area sites are available for purchase.
Visit www.instituteofmosaicart.com. It’s a dream come “true.”
Nothing feels better than to salute a job well done! “Inside Tile: Tools, Traditions, Techniques,”
in Pomona, California, October 6-9, provided the perfect venue for tile artists
and artisans to get together with educators and to share their knowledge and
expertise. There was such enthusiasm generated by the people who
were there, those from the local area and those who had traveled many miles to
join with their colleagues for both fun and education.
Our hats are flying sky high with acclamations for Stephani Stephenson
from Revival Tileworks, the principal organizer of the conference, to
Danielle McIntosh from the Potters Council for her logistical
The silent auction of tiles, presented by the Tile Heritage Foundation,
turned out to be the most successful single event of
We are most grateful for everyone’s participation. The names of all those who donated
tiles are listed in Who Supports THF.
(Available each month to Tile Heritage members who e-mail the Foundation from the address they
would like
E-News sent to. Contact: foundation@tileheritage.org)
PRINTED VERSION
Mark Your Calendar!
Open Invitation to Teach:
“Keeping the Craft Alive” in 2006 or 2007!
New Books
At the moment she’s seeking a publisher!
Round Top, where? TEXAS!
scholar and consultant, who served as moderator and spoke on the Japanese influence on American
art pottery. Roughly 80 people were in attendance.
Putting a Face on Petaluma
hoards of people, young and old alike,
who arrived to carve their faces in clay.
Many of these had mirrors and were busily sculpting the
details of what they saw. Once each face was complete glazes were applied.
By Sunday afternoon over 1200 people had produced self-portraits!
This amounted to 1-½ tons of clay.
IMA Opens with a Flourish
of Color and Sound
“Inside Tile”: the THF Silent Auction
expertise,
to Cybele Garcia at the Pomona Downtown Center for hosting this crazy
group, to Christy Johnson, director of AMOCA, for mounting an unforgettable
exhibition of over 400 historic and contemporary tiles; to Norman Karlson
for lending the historic tiles and for treating us all to his splendid oratory,
to the numerous other presenters for sharing their knowledge and, really, to all
who attended this marvelous 4-day event.
its kind in more than 15 years
of our presenting similar activities. There were 121 tiles on display, all donated
by artists and artisans throughout the U.S. and Canada. 109 of these were bid on
and sold, most at or above the stated retail. Amazingly, we took in over $4000 at
the close, which we have since shared, as promised, with the American Museum of
Ceramic Art, the California Heritage Museum and the Malibu Lagoon Museum.
Click here to view past E-Newses!