"Make Your Own Tiles" Class at AOG

Arts on Grand offers all sorts of classes for children and adults in a variety of media. Somehow I got bold enough to propose one of my own, but now that it looms closer, I'm getting more than a little nervous. I've never taught anything before! But I'll go on ahead with it, as long as someone signs up, that is.

Some time ago, I decided to make some decorative sculpted tiles. I wanted to do some art nouveau style work, but I don't throw (pots), so I didn't have anything to put it on--but tiles are easy. My first one was (loosely) based on a design I took from a silver art nouveau cup. A year or so later, I made some tiles again, starting off the same pattern I'd used before. This time my main influence came from the enigmatic writer and illustrator (we think of him as an illustrator, but he considered himself a writer) Edward Gorey, known for his gothic/Edwardian style drawings of people and monsters (and elephants!). I made a series of Gorey-style creatures, some direct from his illustrations, some of my own invention. Of course, the result is a lot more gothic than art nouveau. An example is this set of birds (unglazed in these images):



This one is also unglazed in the photo. Finished, it looked amazing, stained dark, reminiscent of a tree or roots, but I also thought of veins:



Looks way cooler in real life, but I sold it (a mistake) and I'm not sure if I have any other photos.

The class is for adults, will be Tuesday evenings February 5, 12, and 19 at 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the clay studio at Arts on Grand (262-4307). We'll be carving into and building up on our tiles. I'll try not to be too lousy a teacher...