Making a Tree of Life Mural
Once again our popular, handmade, carved, ceramic Tree of Life wall tile art will adorn a public space: this time a church in Florida. The piece, measuring 36" x 36", will be hung in the lounge at the church.
Cynthia Parker-Houghton, studio designer, created this piece. We thought it would be fun to document the process of making this piece.
handmade, carved, ceramic wall art tile by Natalie Blake
The first step in the process is laying out the handmade forms over which the clay tiles will drape, thus creating undulations in the tiles. Here's what Cynthia says about this step:
"The reason I stay interested in this tree icon is because it is familiar, comforting, grounding. And I think these qualities are especially important when the piece will be displayed in a sacred space. When I lay out the forms, I always start with the trunk--the forms flow out from there and down into the roots. I get the feeling that these forms represent the flow of energy from the nutrients in the soil to the roots, up the trunk and out the leaves. Because of our carving style--we carve away the black slip to reveal the white clay underneath, the piece has an energetic look to it. You can imagine the wind and the particles flowing around it. "
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forms laid out
tiles on forms
After the clay is laid over the forms we paint on the slip:
handmade ceramic tiles
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After the slip dries we begin carving, using a special tool that removes the darker slip.
handmade, sgraffito-carved, ceramic wall tile by Natalie Blake
Cynthia Carving tree
handsculpted, ceramic tile by Natalie Blake
Here's what Cynthia has to say about carving:
"I get inspiration from nature. As I'm carving I'm not thinking of a specific species of tree but the "feeling" of the tree-- the sturdiness or the delicateness or other qualities that the tree embodies. I can feel those as I'm carving. There's always a little personification too: like this is the body of the tree, these are the arms.
My carving style is a kind of dance. I use my whole body when I carve. If I just use my hand I don't have the grace. So I use my shoulder, my whole arm, my trunk,--there's a flow to it. The lines I choose to make are based on that flow. Sometimes it's appropriate to make small, tight lines, but generally I use more fluid, flowing lines."
The final steps are bisque-firing and glaze-firing, which takes about a week. We then glue on our custom backings for easy hanging. Start to finish, the process takes about 4-5 weeks.
When I Am Among the Trees
When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness. I would almost say that they save me, and daily.
I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often.
Around me the trees stir in their leaves and call out, "Stay awhile." The light flows from their branches.
And they call again, "It's simple," they say, "and you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine."
-Mary Oliver
Perry Harvey, Sr. Park
A History Through the Art
Perry Harvey, Sr. Park, Tampa, FL Located at 900 E. Scott Street, the park is a place where generations can come together to share the history of the Central Avenue, through art, music, and cultural attractions.
Clay Tile Murals by Natalie Blake Studios
The Encore!® trio of murals, was made by Natalie Blake Studios This Public Art Installation was commissioned by the City of Tampa and Bank of America in 2014 as part of the Perry Harvey, Sr. Park.
History of the Scrub and Central Avenue
"The Scrub, once Tampa's oldest and largest African American neighborhood,
traces its history to just after the Civil War,
when newly freed slaves built homes in a scrub palmetto thicket outside of the Town of Tampa.
The heart of the Scrub was the Central Avenue Business District."
~ Visit ~
If you are in Tampa, Florida be sure to visit the park, and wander through the neighborhood! If you see the three Natalie Blake murals, send us your photos so we can add them to this post! Thank you!
Perry Harvey, Sr. Park 900 East Scott Street Tampa, Florida Information for Perry Harvey, Sr. Park: Phone: (813) 274-8854 Email: specialevents@tampagov.net
What size should my artwork be?
Unless you work with an interior designer, it may be difficult to know what size wall art will look best in your space. When it comes to finding the right size wall art, there are a few tips to keep in mind so that you don't overwhelm (or underwhelm) your space with your art:
In general you should work around furniture, using the general rule of covering 1/2 to 3/4 of that area with your artwork.
One guideline is that the artwork should take up 4/7 of the selected space. Here's a math trick to help you figure that the size of the art you need:
Measure the width (or height) of your wall space, in inches. Multiply that number by .57
So, for example, if your area is 36 inches wide, you want to look for art that's 20-21 inches wide.
Here's an example of an appropriately-sized mural for this wall. The width of the wall is 96". Using the calculation outlined above, the artwork for this wall should be 54" wide. This ceramic tile mural, Live Oak, is comprised of 12" x 12" tiles, with 1/2" spacing between tiles. So the width of the piece is about 50". You can see that the mural fills the space nicely, with a nice "frame" of wall around the piece so that the room doesn't look cluttered by the artwork.
sculpted, carved ceramic wall art tile by Natalie Blake
In the example below the width of the wall is 144". Using the calculation, the mural should be about 82". The mural is 75" wide. Even without using the calculation we can see that the piece fits in the space. A large room such as this, with high ceilings, can take a larger piece of artwork. The benefit of a ceramic tile mural like this one is that the work can be appreciated from a distance, or up close to see the carving lines.
sculpted, carved, ceramic tile mural
ceramic wall art tile by Natalie Blake
Feel free to contact the studio if you'd like help determining what size ceramic mural would fit your wall. Our tiles are made in sizes from 12" -20" square. If you send us an image of your wall/space we can Photoshop a mural into the image to give you an idea of what the piece will look like.
Architextural tiles
We developed this line of tile to showcase at the 2014 Architectural Digest Home Show. It was a big hit! Each tile is handmade, carved in our signature sgraffito style. The bold, gestural lines accentuate the sculptural undulations in the tile and almost read like topographical lines.
These tiles can be grouped in any configuration, customized in any of our sizes from 12" - 20" square, and glazed in any of our 33 rich, luminous glaze colors.
An interior designer in south Florida is commissioning these tiles for a residential, exterior installation. 15, 12" x 12" tiles will hang as panels and 6, 18" x 18" tiles will be grouted in as a backsplash in the outdoor kitchen.
Tile Wall Art That "Pops" at Fireworks Restaurant
When Fireworks Restaurant in Brattleboro, Vermont, was putting on the finishing touches before opening four years ago, owner Matt Blau invited us to install some of our ceramic tile art in the restaurant. He said, "Do whatever you want. You tell me what you think would look good."
After those magic words, we brought some
that we had in stock to the Brattleboro restaurant and began looking at color and design. Our rich glazes worked really well against the wall colors and our designs seemed to fit naturally with the other design elements in the space. Almost on their own, these two ceramic tile murals found their home on the painted walls. The persimmon-colored abstracted tree, hung on the diagonal, added the perfect "fiery" entrance greeting to make the customer feel at home in the warm, vibrant surroundings and ready for good food. The mural is set for the perfect feng shui to provide a sense of invitation and arrival.
Wall Art in Fireworks Restaurant
The turquoise and burnt oak glazes on the long two-tier "window" of tiles absolutely popped over the rich dark purple black hues of Benjamin Moore's paint color "
". We decided on a simple and straightforward presentation of the tiles that sit over the side bar. They present almost like a transom window at slightly higher than eye level to add sophistication and elegance.
Vermont Tile Wall Art by Natalie Blake Studios
Vermont Tile Wall Art in Restaurant
On a recent visit to the restaurant Natalie received the following list of patron's quotes about the art tiles from the manager:
"Love the texture and color!"
"They are decorative, yet finely crafted."
"Love the botanical elements."
"Understated elegance."
"Love that the artist is local."
We love working with local businesses, and our wall art tiles are also installed in the second Fireworks Restaurant in Keene, NH. Not only are the businesses, and their owners, our friends, but we have the pleasure of seeing the art transform a space whenever we explore Brattleboro.
Placing our art in restaurants and doing an installation like this is so much fun for us. It's always a pleasure to find a blank slate, so to speak, to get creative, to work with the client, and to complement existing design elements from the space. It really gets our creative juices flowing!
Natalie Blake Studios Ceramic Wall Art Wins Award
Our ceramic wall art is now officially award-winning! The news has us very excited, so pardon the exclamation points: we won a gallery award at Art Comes Alive! The annual fine art contest and exhibit took place this past weekend in Cincinnati, OH. We are honored that our tile art was voted into the exhibit, and even more so to receive a contract award from Gallery One, Naples, FL. This is the piece that got us there: "Botanical", a 42" x 56" ceramic wall art mural, glazed in honey, turquoise, cashew, moss and jade.
handmade, ceramic wall art tile
According to the Art Comes Alive sponsors, Art Design Consultants, Inc., the awards recognize the “brightest and best artists in a variety of categories.” Our piece is one of 150 chosen for the exhibit, out of a staggering 1,500 entries. Getting our tile art mural into the exhibit itself is no small feat, and requires an intense jurying process.
Roy Saper, owner of Saper Galleries and Custom Framing, was one of the jurors responsible for choosing pieces for the exhibit. “The online jurying process took me hours. And hours. And hours,” he said. And no wonder, with so many pieces of art in the mix. After each juror reviews each piece, the ones with the most votes are included in the exhibit. From that list, galleries and award donors choose the recipients of their awards.
That's where Gallery One comes in – they awarded us a gallery award, and will now carry our work at their gallery in Naples, FL. We will be honored to be represented by this great gallery, which also represents our good friend, fabulous Vermont artist and Fulcrum Arts Center business partner, Randi Solin of Solinglass. Funnily enough, we will share Gallery One with Dr. Seuss as well.
Mural hangs in Hawaii
This piece, called Mauna Kea, is installed on a stone wall in a garden at a Hawaiian residence. Natalie met the clients at the Philadelphia Museum Show. They saw her work and commissioned a mural to decorate this wall, which blocked their view of the volcano, Mauna Kea (side note: it's the highest point on the island of Hawaii). They wanted a piece that would "show" them the volcano. Natalie embellished the design with flora from the island, including the wild ginger plant. Natalie's fiance, Nick, installed the piece. His meticulousness ensured that the tiles are straight and inline with each other--not an easy task on an irregularly-shaped, stone wall. Here's what the client says about the piece: "Your work just keeps on amazing us. We love our volcano, especially during the evening when the setting sun lights it. I also love the face that inadvertently showed up in the clouds to blow the wind. Absolutely genius."
