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Here’s What’s Below:

Upcoming tile conference in Minnesota
Deadlines ahead
Lecture on California Faience
“Queen of Done”
Tile Maker Now Molds Reality
Discounted Books from THF!
Year End Donations
Yummy Holiday Recipe

Tile Conference in Minnesota!

“Tiles of the Northern Plains: Building on Tradition” is being presented by the Handmade Tile Association and the Tile Heritage Foundation in Minneapolis, September 13-17, 2006. The focus of the conference will be on the remarkable achievements of local tile makers and mosaic artists as well as the historic traditions that have nurtured this development. There will be tours, both guided and self-guided; presentations by noted tile historians; studio demonstrations and workshops where participants will get a firsthand view of all the goings on; and exhibitions, at least two planned at this time, that will feature contemporary tile work and its historic predecessors.

Keep these dates free: September 13-17, 2006. We all look forward to seeing each other there! A further description will be forthcoming.

DEADLINES Are Upon Us!

Deadline: December 20, 2005. If you’ve agreed to teach or want to teach a Tile Heritage “Keeping the Craft Alive” workshop in 2006, return your application to us by faxing 707 431-8455 by December 20th. If you need an application, please email THF today!

Deadline: December 30, 2005. Postmark for applications and all related documents. Click on image for elit-tile exhibition details. Click on English language version as necessary. elit-tile 2006/07 is open to all artists/ceramists who have mastered firing techniques and who are also willing to send their work as a donation to the Museum of Contemporary Ceramics (MCC) in Santo Domingo. The works will not only increase the museum's collection but also support the ceramics activities in the Dominican Republic guided by the Igneri Foundation/ Art and Archaeology.

Deadline: February 3, 2006. Entries for the Spectrum Awards and the Prism Awards, underwritten by Coverings and presented during the annual convention, April 4-7, 2006 in Orlando, Florida. Spectrum honors achievement in the use of ceramic tile and Prism honors architectural achievement in the use of natural stone. Both the accompanying publicity and the impressive cash prizes make a submittal well worth the effort! For details on Spectrum click on www.coverings.com/spectrum-awards-3.html and for Prism www.coverings.com/prism-awards-3.html


Deadline: February 6, 2006. Postmark date for slides, fee and entry form for the 16th National Ceramic Competition hosted by The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts in San Angelo, Texas. The juror for this year’s competition is Ann Lancaster, executive director of the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. 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. The 16th San Angelo National Ceramic Competition will take place April 21 - 24, 2006. Exhibit continues through June 25, 2006. For more details and an entry form click on www.samfa.org/NCC/ncc_2006.htm.

California Faience: Family Perspective

THF member and noted tile historian Kirby Brown, whose mother worked at the California Faience Company in Berkeley, will present a talk and slide show titled California Faience of Berkeley: A Family Perspective on Thursday evening, January 26th at The Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar Street in Berkeley. The event, organized by Arts and Crafts aficionado Tim Hansen, is a fundraiser for The Hillside Club and The Landmark Heritage Foundation. The entry fee is $12; doors open at 7:30 p.m. for the 8 p.m. presentation. Kirby is a personable speaker who clings to detail and always has something new up his sleeve.
We will be there, and we hope to see you!

“Queen of Done” Washes onto our Shores

So, you might ask, what’s marine biology have to do with ceramic tile history and conservation? The answer: Brechelle Ware, executive assistant at Tile Heritage. A free-lance, Renaissance woman, undaunted by the complexities and trivialities of the tile world, she commutes from Seattle once a month to work with us in the Tile Heritage office, library and warehouse for a week’s duration before returning north. Her principal focus is the conservation of the Tile Heritage Collection, the cataloging of hundreds of historic and contemporary tiles that have been donated to the Foundation over the last 20 years. It’s a most tedious but gratifying task begun several years ago by Julia Murray, who is now the Foundation’s website designer.

Crowned the “Queen of Done,” Brechelle takes on any task of whatever complexity, many times without being asked, and completes the work at a startling rate. Perhaps it’s the diversity of her life experience that makes her so effective. Under the auspices of AmeriCorps she has fought wild fires in four states, counseled teens for the YMCA, volunteered for Habitat for Humanity in Virginia, and worked with the Metropolitan Police Boys and Girls Club in Washington, DC. She’s worked for the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska, as a bartender and sea kayak guide on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, a haute cuisine chef in San Francisco, and an installer of mosaics on two cruise ships. Oh yes, she has a BS degree in marine biology from the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau. Dare we say she’s one whale of a worker?

Former Tile Maker Molds Reality in Nepal

Anna Sarena Howe (formerly Paula Cornelison), co-founder of the now closed mid-1990’s tile company, Fourth Bay, of Garrettsville, Ohio, was honored in November 2005 with forty-seven others as “Unsung Heroes of Compassion” through Wisdom in Action, San Francisco, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It is a long way from the stresses and joys of what Mother Earth used to provide when she opened the kiln, but it has its own acute anxieties and abundant rewards as well.

Since 1994 Anna, with the assistance of Tibetan monk colleagues, volunteer support, good will dollars, desire and love, has rescued and created a home for more than one hundred and fifty abandoned and impoverished children in Kathmandu, Nepal, where she now lives. In this civil war-torn monarchy high in the Himalayas children are among the many victims suffering from starvation, abuse and abandonment.

Every three years Wisdom in Action receives nominations for “Unsung Heroes” worldwide and honors these people for the selfless work they do on all continents. This year the group of 48 people including Anna met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama for a blessing ceremony in San Francisco. Each of these remarkable women and men has made significant personal sacrifices for the greater good of all beings.

Congratulations Anna!

For more information contact Elizabeth Share, Wisdom in Action
elizshare@comcast.net

Discounted Books in stock for the Holidays!

As a special holiday treat for those of you who choose to order books from Tile Heritage in the month of December, we will honor member discounts through the month of December AND ship for free any books we have currently in stock. These include Norman Karlson’s Encyclopedia of American Art Tiles; Angelica Pozo’s Making and Installing Handmade Tile; Sonia King’s Mosaic Techniques and Traditions; California Tile: The Golden Era 1910-1940 edited by Joseph Taylor; Margaret Carney’s Flint Faience Tiles A to Z; Ceramic Art Tile for the Home by DeBorah Goletz; Peter King’s Architectural Ceramics; Frank Giorgini’s Handmade Tile; Batchelder Tilemaker by Robert Winter; Ceramic Art of the Malibu Potteries by Ronald Rindge; The Tile Club and the Aesthetic Movement in America by Ronald Pisano; Lee Rosenthal’s Catalina Tile of the Magic Isle; and Larry Harris’ The Jewels of Avalon: Decorative Tiles of Catalina Island. Wow, there are some choices for you! See www.tileheritage.org/THF-Book List.html for pricing.

Member discounts are 5% for those who contribute up to $100 a year; 10% for our Centurian ($100) members; 15% for members who contribute more than $100 a year; and 20% for our publishing sponsors. Remember: this month only!

Year End Donations: A Time to Assist Others

First, we’d like to sincerely thank all of you who, as a rule or on occasion, send checks to Tile Heritage as “end of the year” donations. Things are different this year, and we’d like to take this opportunity to encourage you to redirect your generosity. There is always need in the world, but this year with the devastating hurricanes that have swept through New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, that need has hit home as so many Tile Heritage members and friends have been directly affected. The Anderson family, for example, whose Shearwater Pottery in Ocean Springs, Mississippi was destroyed under 30 feet of water, has established a nonprofit fund to assist in the recovery, conservation and restoration of their art work that dates back to the 1920s. Checks can be sent to the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, P. O. Box 446, Fairhope, AL 36533. As we reported earlier in E-News, Tile Heritage pledged $2400 to CERF (Craft Emergency Relief Fund), a 20-year-old nonprofit organization committed to providing emergency relief to professional craft artists nationwide. CERF reports an unprecedented need for funds. Click on www.craftemergency.org for a Fund Raiser Contribution form or call 802 229-2306 for more information.

Tis the season. Let’s make it just a little bit brighter for others.

Yummy Holiday Recipe for Marshmallow Mosaics

2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1 envelope of granulated gelatin
¼ cup of water
- pinch of salt
1 teaspoon coconut extract
½ cup toasted shredded coconut
¼ cup colored or chocolate sugar sprinkles (jimmies)
- powdered sugar

Spray a 9x9 brownie pan with vegetable spray. Set aside. Sprinkle gelatin over water to soften.

In a medium saucepan, bring sugar, corn syrup and salt to a simmer. Stir gently to incorporate all sugar crystals. Bring to a boil, let boil 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

In a mixer, whisk sugar mixture slowly to release some steam. Slowly add the gelatin and water. Slowly increase speed on mixer to high, whisk for several minutes until mixture is white and thick.

Decrease speed to low and add coconut extract. With a rubber scrapper, sprayed with vegetable spray, scrape marshmallow mixture into the brownie pan.

Sprinkle evenly with the coconut and colored sprinkle mixture. Let sit overnight.

To cut and serve: with a hot knife, cut long 1-inch wide strips and drop onto a plate covered in a layer of powdered sugar. With scissors, cut the sections into 1-inch long pieces and roll them in the powdered sugar. Store them covered in an airtight container.

Note: other flavors can be substituted for the coconut, and the marshmallow can be colored with food coloring when you whisk it. Multiple batches can be made and designs laid out to form a mosaic when served. This is a sticky, yummy project for kids (with supervision) and adults who always have their hands in ‘something’! Enjoy!

Sheila Menzies, Tile Heritage Foundation

Happy Holidays!

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