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<BR>(Available each month to Tile Heritage members who e-mail the Foundation from the address they 

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<H3>


<font color="#956712" face="comic sans ms">Here’s What’s Below:</font color></H3>

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<A HREF="#Elit">Elit-tile Opens in Santo Domingo	</A>

             <BR> <BR>


<A HREF="#Submissions">Submissions Sought for New Tile Book</A>

             <BR> <BR>


<A HREF="#Pillars">Pillars Workshop Report</A>

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<A HREF="#Michigan">Traipsing Through Michigan</A>

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<A HREF="#Poem">Poem by Deborah Hechts</A>

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<A HREF="#Tunisian">

Tunisian Treasures</A>

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<A Name="Elit">	

	
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<H3><font color="#865B0B">Open Invitation</font color> to elit-tile! </H3>

 <P>

The Igneri Foundation/Art & Archaeology, the Museum of Modern Art, 

the Altos d<B>e Chavon Cultural Foundation, and the Puntacana Group invites 

you to the “Third International Ceramic Tile Triennial”</B> (elit-tile) Inauguration Night, 

<B>November 16th</B>, to be held at the <B>Museum of Modern Art (MAM)</B> of Santo Domingo, 

the capital city of the Dominican Republic.

<P>

More than 255 works from artists representing 53 countries will be shown until 

<B>January 27, 2007</B>. You are invited to the elit-tile exhibition and to attend the 

festivities on Inauguration Night!

 <P>

Visit <A HREF="http://www.elit-tile.net/home/index.php?page=elit-tile&option=about&lang=eng">www.elit-tile.net/home</A>

 
<A Name="Submissions">

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<H3><font color="#865B0B">New Tile Book from Lark.</font color> Submissions Sought</H3>

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<B>Lark Books</B> is taking submissions for an upcoming book, <B>"500 Tiles,"</B> that will focus on ceramic tiles and mosaics. 

The deadline is <B>February 1st, 2007</B> and there is no entry fee. <B>Angelica Pozo</B> will serve as juror.

 
<P>

For more information: <A HREF="http://www.larkbooks.com/submissions/ArtistsEntryForms.asp">www.larkbooks.com/submissions</A>

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<A Name="Pillars">

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<H3> 

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<font color="#865B0B">“Pillars in Clay”:</font color> Workshop Extraordinaire! </H3>

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<font color="#865B0B">From</font color> Sheila Menzies

 <P>

<B>“Pillars in Clay,”</B> a clay sculpture and majolica workshop, was held in Solana Beach, 

California in early October directed by majolica artist <B>Irene de Watteville</B>. What fun 

the eight of us had for two days! The workshop was held in support of “Keeping the 

Craft Alive,” the workshop series presented each year by Tile Heritage.

 <P>

Irene introduced participants to hand-building in clay and majolica techniques. Most 

people were already familiar with clay as a medium but some were not.

<IMG SRC="Sharon-11-06.jpg" align=left vspace=10 hspace=10>


 On the first day we designed our ideas for pillars and worked on creating individual, hollow clay 

elements to complete our maquettes, most less than two feet tall. Each pillar was 

‘strung’ on a length of pipe embedded in a cement base. By the end of the first day 

the pillars were taking shape.

 <P>

As Irene had prepared some elements in advance, already bisqued and with a majolica 

base glaze applied, we could experience painting with the majolica technique on these 

pieces on day two, the third step in completing the pillars. The elements we were producing then

needed to be dried and bisque-fired prior to the application of glazes. 

 <P>

The beauty of maquettes - these miniature pillars – is that they are scale models 

complete in themselves, but they can also be utilized in the future by transposing 

them into full-size forms, large-scale garden sculptures, for example, if one chooses.

 
<A Name="Michigan">

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<H3>

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<font color="#865B0B">Traipsing</font color> Through Michigan</H3>

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<font color="#865B0B">From</font color> Joe Taylor

<P> 

Detroit can be a lovely place to visit in mid-August, especially when the weather cooperates. 

The staff at <B>Pewabic Pottery</B> had scheduled a tile festival that weekend, the first of its kind 

at the pottery itself; and not having seen many of our tile maker friends in several years, 

I was anxious to reconnect. 

<P>

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Finding a reasonable round trip out of San Francisco, I made a reservation at The Inn on 

<B>Ferry Street</B>, a series of four restored Victorian houses in Midtown, just a few blocks 

from three major tile treasures: the <B>Detroit Institute of Arts</B> (Enfield tiles and the 

Dragon of Marduk from Babylon’s Ishtar Gate), the <B>Detroit Public Library</B> (Pewabic tiles 

and mosaics and a large mural by Millard Sheets), and a massive <B>Hubert Massey</B> designed 

mural at the intersection of Brush and Kirby. 


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 <P>

Titled <B>“Patterns of Detroit,”</B> the 3000 square foot mural was created with the input of 

27 community groups. <B>Hubert Massey</B>, a local muralist, designed the central panel, which 

depicts a mother and child surrounded by important neighborhood landmarks. The mother 

works to bind together colorful patterns representing the various cultures in the city. 

The fabric winds through the central images and spills out into horizontal panels, each 

produced by a different local school or nonprofit organization. The mural was dedicated 

on October 5, 2005.

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 <P>

The white tent raised out front at the <B>Pewabic Pottery</B> served as a suitable attraction 

for passers-by on East Jefferson. I would guess perhaps 600 people paid the modest fee 

to enter the sale area. Probably 25-30 tile artists were present with their work, many 

of whom were friends, both current and former members of Tile Heritage. In suitable 

contrast <B>Kathy Rae</B> occupied the largest space with her wide variety of historic tiles. 

<B>Terese Ireland</B>, executive director at Pewabic, treated me to a delightful lunch downtown 

in the shadow of the new Tiger Stadium, where we occupied ourselves talking tiles, not 

baseball. She must have rigged the raffle as I won the first drawing!


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 <P>

Royal Oak, Michigan, about 11 miles north of downtown Detroit, has been for some years 

a growing community preferred by those who wish to live and raise their families outside 

of the city. It’s now a haven for tilemakers. Last year Marcia Hovland and her husband 

Denis DeSandre purchased retail space on Fourth Street and have since opened a studio/gallery 

where Marcia makes her one-of-a-kind tiles and sells an assortment of handmade tiles from 

around the country. For more than ten years Marcia has specialized in hand-making tiles 

with whimsical subjects: bugs, bees, fairies, mermaids and nature scenes. She also makes 

beaded bracelets, ceramic buttons and bowls.


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 <P>

Friend and fellow tilemaker Laurie Eisenhardt is not far away. Laurie’s studio behind 

her early 20th century home is surrounded by a lush, well-kept flower garden, accented 

by an intimate patio snuggled in back for the family barbeque. Recently, Laurie was 

commissioned to provide a series a decorative 12 x 12 tiles for the newly built 

Southfield (Michigan) Public Library. The tiles, each with a different children’s theme, 

are inset in the circular wall around the outdoor garden designed with special plantings 

and sculpture for young people to enjoy. The library also has a comfortable reading area 

with a large fireplace and hearth adorned with Pewabic tiles.


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 <P>

While in Royal Oak don’t miss a visit to the Detroit Zoo where tilemaker Gretchen Kramp, 

another local artist, has two sizeable murals. The first, installed in 2000, takes up a 

wall of the entry to the National Amphibian Conservation Center. The other, produced two 

years later, adorns the entrance of the Nunavut Gallery in the Arctic of Life exhibit. 

A large polar bear stands under the motto Nunatsiaq, meaning “the beautiful land” in Inuit.


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 <P>

If you ever plan to visit Motawi Tileworks in Ann Arbor, don’t try to get there from Detroit. 

Driving west out of the city, it takes forever, even without traffic. You’re sure you’re going 

to drop into Lake Michigan before you get there. I suggest you use the phone or 

visit the website at <A HREF="http://www.motawi.com">www.motawi.com</A>. It’ll be a lot faster 

and you won’t make the mistake of 

turning north on Rt. 23 and getting lost! (Lesson: never leave home without Mapquest in your back pocket.)


<IMG SRC="Motawi2-11-06.jpg" align=right vspace=10 hspace=10>

 <P>

We’ve all heard about the two-car garage where the company started in the early ‘90s, and 

we choose to forget the cramped, dark quarters on Staebler as producers of Arts and Crafts 

products need a “clean and well-lighted” place to work. 

<IMG SRC="Motawi3-11-06.jpg" align=left vspace=10 hspace=10>

Motawi Tileworks today fits the bill. 

Located in the mid-Michigan countryside, in a natural setting west of Ann Arbor, 

the factory 

would blend right in were it  

not for its white exterior and the massive Pine Landscape mural, 

inspired by Grueby Faience’s “The Pines” and now a Motawi trademark, painted on the building’s façade.

 <P>

Putting aside the beauty and exquisite craftsmanship of the individual decorative tiles, one 

has to marvel at how the staff manages the keep track of the myriad of choices available to 

customers, considering the number of decorative options, glaze choices, trim shapes and sizes. 

For any other company this would prove to be a nightmare. At Motawi it’s now all part of the 

routine, and you can tell by the look of their faces—everyone’s.

 
<A Name="Poem">

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<P><BR><BR><BR><BR>

<H3><font color="#865B0B">A Gift:</font color> A Poem by Deborah Hecht</H3>

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<P>

Custom Design on Tile, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 

	whose oldest son was married this past summer.

 <P><BR>


<H3>A GIFT</H3>

<P>

 <I>

A gift-a skill-a ball of clay

<BR>To have the will to see the way

<BR>To find the statement it can say

 <P>

To push and pull and form unending

<BR>Deal with mess and constant mending

<BR>Build it up and carve it down

<BR>Pick it up if it falls down

<BR>And don’t give up until it’s done

<BR>Let it dry and slowly bake it

<BR>With some luck the kiln won’t break it

<BR>Add some color fire it in 

<BR>Over and over and over again

 <P>

Eventually with lots of time

<BR>Comes the vision once in mind

<BR>But when it’s art it isn’t mine

<BR>Although I sowed I cannot reap it

<BR>Even if I want to keep it

<BR>It’s lost if others cannot see it

 <P>

A gift-a seed-a ball of life

<BR>To hold and love in need and strife

<BR>Nurture guidance firm but gentle

<BR>Find within his full potential

 <P>

Feed and clean with care unending

<BR>Children need a lot of tending

<BR>Build him up so he’ll be strong

<BR>Scold him gently when he’s wrong

<BR>Pick him up when he falls down

<BR>Help him choose but don’t choose for him

<BR>He needs to handle what’s before him

<BR>School will test him I’ll adore him

<P> 

When he’s ready to depart 

<BR>And seize the world with all his heart

<BR>The day comes soon in little time

<BR>My son’s the man I had in mind

<BR>He has to leave he isn’t mine

<BR>I must let him go for life

<BR>To journey forward with a wife

 <P>

A life of art the art of living

<BR>Joy and sorrow interweaving

<BR>Borrowed treasure fleeting pleasure

<BR>To give to get and not to measure

 </center>


</I>


<A Name="Tunisian">

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<BR>

 
<H3><font color="#865B0B">Tunisian Treasure Trove:</font color> A Report from Karen Singer</H3>

<P>

 
I am writing to tell you about a recent travel experience that might be something to 

share with the THF membership. My husband Peter Handler and I, both artists, toured 

Tunisia last summer on our honeymoon, and we met and worked with some incredible 

ceramic artists and crafts people. This is a country that few Americans visit and it's 

fascinating! It is a treasure trove for anyone interested in tile! 

 <P>

<IMG SRC="RomanMosaic-11-06.jpg" align=right vspace=10 hspace=10>

We were both fascinated and impressed with the range of work in Tunisia that is of 

interest to craftspeople, especially ceramists. This ranges from extensive Roman 

mosaics and the Islamic and Spanish inspired tilework that is installed all over 

the country to the work being done today. Everywhere you look, there is tile work - 

on the mosques, in the streets, on the ceilings, walls and floors in both rich and poor 

areas. We saw the Bardo Museum in Tunis, with perhaps the biggest collection of Roman 

mosaics in the world, and two ancient Roman cities, Bulla Regia and Dougga, 


<IMG SRC="Karen-11-06.jpg" align=left vspace=10 hspace=10>

where 

mosaics are intact in the walls and floors of numerous buildings.

<P>

We also met people everywhere. I spent an afternoon doing claywork with a Berber 

family of women potters in the pottery village of Sejnane, to tour the pottery town 

of Guellala on the island of Djerba, and to make a small tile mural in a ceramic 

workshop in Nabeul, center of Tunisian ceramics manufacturing. 

 <P>

Peter makes studio furniture. He is well known nationally in the craft community as 

he has been exhibiting


<IMG SRC="Rooftop-11-06.jpg" align=right vspace=10 hspace=10>

 in high end craft shows for about 30 years. His web address 

is: <A HREF="http://www.handlerstudio.com">www.handlerstudio.com</A>. I am a sculptor/ceramic tile maker - in business since 1991 - 

my business name is Karen Singer Tileworks, Inc. My three person staff and I make 

large-scale ceramic tile murals, most of which are installed in hospitals, universities, 

and other non-profits across the country as donor recognition walls. My web address is: <A HREF="http://www.karensinger.com">www.karensinger.com</A>.

 <P>

Karen is organzing a 14-day ceramics and cultural tour of Tunisia for Spring 2007. 

If you are interested, <A HREF=mailto:karensinger@karensinger.com>karensinger@karensinger.com</A>


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