Archive | October, 2011

New shape tiles installed

Quote from a happy client: “What a splendid idea, and what a splendid job of execution!”

This commission started at the American Craft Exposition in Evanston, IL in August 2010. My client owns a company that houses one of the world’s 15 or so electron microscopes, as well as a whole school dedicated to electron microscopy, spectroscopy and other fascinating worlds of science! The CEO, his wife, and I, all worked on an installation based on the company’s logo. For material to work from, I was given special permission to peruse a database of images that were truly a stupifying journey into the micro world that is the foundation of our lives.

This winter was a profound time for me. My beloved friend and father died suddenly while cross country skiing the woods of New Hampshire with friends at age 72. I cancelled all shows and worked in my new studio space created in 2009 in the historic Grange building in my town, two doors over from my home.

Out of this time came this work and by butterfly and musical instrument pieces, as well as a many other projects, of course. Butterflies are an obvious symbol of new life, and in the meditation of carving round disk after round disk, all with unique images and designs, completing 110 disks, freed up new energy for a whole new chapter in innovative sculptural wall tile that will come out of the studio.

My 17-year old niece, in between soccer camps, came and helped me make a number of projects during the summer months by rolling out tile for me to drape and carve. One afternoon I invited her to take some of the smaller disks we had made and carve them. I was amazed at her inherent talent. She carved a dozen tiles that I used as space holders as I laid out this piece. They looked so fabulous, however, that they are included in the permanent installation.

It was an unrepeatable summer, holding space for my dear dad, working with my niece, Magda, while my fiance rebuilt the house we are now living in, and my mom brought Magda and me homemade cookies and tea at 3 pm. We all worked together to reweave the family fabric, allowing the time we all needed to sit with the passing of Pa. My dear studio mates, Ellen Pratt , Cynthia Parker-Houghton and Sara Meehan, held the in-town studio space down for me and allowed me to work at home. I am so grateful for their fine work and commitment to this studio.

We just got word from the client that “individually the tiles capture attention, and arranged the way they are is outstanding. They are perfectly located where they are, especially with the indirect lighting…I’m thinking that they will be especially gorgeous in the late evening, after dark, when illuminated only with indirect lighting.”

handmade, sgraffito-carved, ceramic wall tiles

Disc tiles by Natalie Blake Studios

Look for more images of these discs under the Abstract tab of our Tile Catalogue section of the website!

Lake Geneva, WI installation

Natalie recently installed this mural at a residence on Lake Geneva, WI.

Here’s what Natalie had to say about the piece:

“This piece was inspired by Lake Geneva, which can be seen from the dining room and kitchen windows of this home in Wisconson. The day I went to look at the walls I had been talking about with my client, the sun was warm and inviting, the water and sky blue with a lovely breeze. We sat out on the veranda and had breakfast and talked about wall art and the last few years of my adventures into wall sculpture and ceramic art tile. My client was inspired by the undulation in tile that gives the murals such life and motion. She liked the idea of her wall coming alive with a three dimensional hand carved rendition of her perfect view. We chose warm colors that came from the outdoors as well as colors in the wood, carpets, furnishings of her home.

The colors worked beautifully in the room! She had the perfect lighting already installed in the ceilings, that “scraped” the piece from top down to accentuate the undulation and texture in the handmade, handcarved, tiles. Success!”

Lake Geneva, Handmade, custom, ceramic wall art tile by Natalie Blake Studios

handmade, ceramic wall art tile by Natalie Blake Studios

Lake Geneva, WI installation

handmade, ceramic wall art tile by Natalie Blake Studios

Natalie and Nick installing tiles for a client

Natalie and Nick are in Iowa finishing up an installation of Natalie’s wall art tile for a residential client. These are the shape tiles we blogged about in August.

Here’s what Natalie had to say about these tiles:

“This commission was made at the Des Moines Art Festival in 2009. The client had been searching for some original art for her foyer. My fiance, Nick and I went to visit her home, and we learned that the family loved music. The client and her daughter also loved butterflies. I came away from their house trying to imagine a mural that would suit the space but not overwhelm it. Nick suggested on our drive back to Vermont that I break out of the square and create a piece I had not done before. Over the course of the next two years, I worked on designs, and the client renovated a large part of her house, including the stair and foyer.

I created large ceramic tiles that were abstracted instruments that morphed into animated abstractions, and then into abstracted butterfly designs.

I call the piece, “Diapason Unfurling”

Diapason means:

diapason |ˌdīəˈpāzən; -sən|noun (also open diapason or stopped diapason ): an organ stop sounding a main register of flue pipes, typically of eight-foot pitch.

• poetic/literary the entire compass, range, or scope of something.

• figurative a grand swelling burst of harmony.

The last line is the best description of this piece. It is the first piece in the unfurling of a completely new approach to ceramic tile wall sculpture! I am very excited to create other pieces in this fluid, breaking-out-of-square method.

The saxophone piece measures 42″ tall and 40″ wide, to give a sense of scale. The two middle sized notes are approximately a foot in length.”