Creative Ceramic Tile

A collection of various innovative ceramic tile artists, past and present.

 

Motawi Tileworks

 

The Motawi Tileworks was began in 1992, when Nawal Motawi set up a table at a farmers market and received a commission to create her first local fireplace installation. Today, their handcrafted tiles can be found in homes nationwide. The tiles are currently produced in a studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan and represent an eclectic mix of historical decorative art styles including block prints by Yoshiko Yamamoto, the graphic art of Frank Lloyd Wright, the De Stijl Movement, Art Nouveau, Mary Chase Stratton, Adelaide Robineau, Louis Sullivan, C.F. Voysey, William DeMorgan and Dard Hunter.

Motawi Tiles now consists of the sibling duo of Karim and Nawal Motawi and their staff of talented artisans. Nawal studied sculpture and ceramics at the University of Michigan and learned tile-making at Pewabic Pottery.  Karim, also educated at the U of M, runs the production studio and teaches tile-making classes.

Motawi’s polychrome tile decorators are affectionately referred to as “the Bee Gees,” short for “bulb glazers,” because they use bulb syringes to pool glaze onto the tiles. In this centuries-old technique—called cuenca, or simply raised-line—color areas are separated by the tiny ridges of clay that are formed in the pressing process.

Site Link

 

Confetti - Motawi Tileworks

 ‘Confetti’ – Motawi Tileworks

 

 

 

Motawi Tileworks Frank Lloyd Wright March Balloons Tile

 Frank Lloyd Wright style ‘March Balloons’ Tile -Motawi Tileworks

 

 

Motawi - Koi Tile Mural

 Koi tile mural – Motawi Tileworks

 

 

Hoffman House Rug- Frank Lloyd Wright--Motawi Tileworks

Motawi Tileworks –  Tile inspired from the Hoffman House Rug- Frank Lloyd Wright

 

 

Limp On A Limp Motawi ceramic tile

 ‘Limp on a Limb’ – Motawi Tileworks

 

 

 

Songbirds grey_blue large tile

 Grey blue ‘Songbirds’ – Motawi Tileworks

 

 

Autumn Edibles Motawi Tileworks USA

 ‘Autumn Edibles’ – Motawi Tileworks

 

 

Frozen Spheres tile - Motawi

‘Frozen Spheres’ – Motawi Tileworks

 

 

Motawi Bleeding Heart Tile

 Motawi ‘Bleeding Heart’ Tile

Janice L. Walrafen

 

Janice  grew up in the Senoran desert of Arizona with her artist/potter mother and two sisters. She currently resides along the Winooski River in Plainfield Vermont among the wise white pine, sweet cedar, fiddleheads, cattails, wild and domestic creatures that share her home and garden; red squirrel, crow, turkey, deer, jay, merganser, fox, owl, mink, weasel, otter, chickadee, yellow finch, grouse, woodpecker, goose, duck, canine, and human friends. All an influence on her art.

Her decorative relief tiles are created by pressing clay into an original plaster mold. Each tile is then carefully dried, fired and hand painted with studio-made glazes, fired a second time to a stoneware temperature of 2200 degrees, creating colorful and unique tiles.

Site link 

 

 

 

Beautiful Birches Janice L. Walrafen

 ‘Beautiful Birches’  Janice L. Walrafen

 

 

 

Ceramic tile - Mermaid - Janice L. Walrafen

 ‘Mermaid’ – Janice L. Walrafen

 

 

 

Wall tile - Pheasants-Janice L. Walrafen

 ‘Pheasants’ – Janice L.Walrafen

 

 

 

Abstract ceramic tile - Ravens Wood- Janice L. Walrafen

 ‘Ravens Wood’ – Janice L. Walrafen

 

Chris Gryder

 

“I create sculptural ceramic objects that engage with a deep sense of time and history; a geological time and the time of civilizations. There is a visceral joy, a complete indulgence in tactile geometric form that evokes a world where wonder still reigns. A place at the edge of the wild.”

Site Link

 

Wall panel Candy Mountain by Chris Gryder

 ‘Candy Mountain’ by Chris Gryder

 

 

 

Chris Gryder, Burst, Ceramic,-27in-x-27in-x-2in

‘Burst’ –  Chris Gryder, Ceramic panels

27in-x-27in-x-2in

 

 

 

Sectio Auria - Bas Relief Sculpture - Chris Gryder Roanoke, Virginia, United-States

 ‘Sectio Auria’ – Bas Relief Sculpture – Chris Gryder

Roanoke, Virginia, United-States

 

 

 

Chris Gryder-Infinity Squared wall panel

‘Infinity Squared’ – Chris Gryder

 

 

Medicine Bluff Studio

 

Medicine Bluff Studio began in 2001 and is co-owned by John and Debbie Beasley. John designs and sculpts all the products from his studio in Florence, Kentucky.

Site Link

 

 

Heron-Tile - Medicine Bluff- 4x8 inches

 Heron Tile – Medicine Bluff Studio

4×8 inches

 

 

 

Medicine Buflf - Koi

 Medicine Bluff  – ‘Koi’

 

 

 

Mother to be - Medicine Bluff

 ‘Mother to be’ – Medicine Bluff Studio

 

 

 

 

Medicine-Bluff-Tiles Peacock wall panel

 Medicine Bluff Studio ‘Peacock’ wall panel tile

 

Ellen Rundle

 

“My studio is in my home where I live in Granada Hills. When I am working on a large jobs it seems my entire property becomes engulfed in clay pieces and equipment. Clay is a material that you have to “live” with since there are many steps in the process and each one requires that the material be in a particular stage of drying before the firing and glazing processes begin. There is always an element of surprise!”

 

Site Link

 

Ellen-Rundle Tree Of Life fountain

 Ellen Rundle ‘Tree Of Life’ fountain

 

 

 

Ellen Rundle ceramic bas relief

 Ellen Rundle ceramic sculpture murallete inspired by St. Marks Basilica, Venice

27×36 inches

 

 

Creative Concepts – Los Angeles

Site Link

 

 

Reproduction of the fountain mural at the Adamson house in Malibu, Californa,-a-classic-Malibu-home-built-in-1930.

 Reproduction of the fountain mural at the Adamson house in Malibu, California

Creative Concepts, LA

 

 

LA Creative Concepts tiles Twin peacock tiled mural

 Twin Peacock Wall Mural

Creative Concepts

 

 

Majolica tiles at Santa Chiara in Naples

A gothic cloister of majolica tiles at Santa Chiara in Naples (14th century) by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro, Painters Giuseppe and Donato Massa

1739-1742

 

 

 

Antique-art-nouveau-Tube-Lined-Majolica-Ceramic

 Art Nouveau majolica tile

 

 

 

Azulejos-(the-very-typical-Portuguese-white-and-blue-tilework)-from-Lisboa

Lisboa Azulejos white and blue tilework

 

 

 

Gaudi,-Casa-Batllo,-Barcelona,-España

Casa Batllo, Barcelona – design Antoni Gaudi

 

 

 

Harris Strong ceramic tile art

 Harris Strong

 

 

 

Italy---Lake Como Retreat by John & Tina Reid on Flickr

 

Tiled balcony – Lake Como, Italy

John & Tina Reid, Flickr

 

 

 

Curtiss does Rio

 Tiled steps in Rio

 A photo sent by my eldest son Curtiss from his travels through S.America

 

 

 

Jaipur tiled ceiling at the City Palace

 City Palace – Jaipur, India

 

 

 

jillgerlach58,-via-Flickr-ceramic-raku-zebra-tile

 Raku Zebra Tiled Panel – Jill Gerlach, flickr

 

 

Lewellen Studio-–-Ginkgo Tile

 Nouveau style ‘Ginkgo’ tile – Lewellen Studio

 

 

 

lynne-meade-porcelain tile

 Lynne Meade

 

 

 

MONTELUPO-FIORENTINO-CERAMICS

 Tiled Mural at the  Montelupo Fiorentino Italian ceramics trade festival

 

 

 Carved clay relief-Earthesong tiles

Celtic style carved relief tile – Earthesong

 

 

Motawi- Caribbean Blue Collage Fireplace by Michelle Nelson Design

 Motawi Caribbean Blue Collage Fireplace by Michelle Nelson Design

 

 

 

PATCHWORK-FLOOR-TILES---Modern---Kitchen

 Patchwork kitchen floor tiles

 

 

 

Portuguese azulejos wall tiles

 Azulejos wall mural – Church of St. John the Evangelist, Cadaval Palace, Evora

 

 

 

Reclaimed-Spanish-tile-fountain

Spanish wall fountain with  hand painted tiles.

 

 

 Art Nouveau Majolica---Made in France---1890-to-1910---Ceramic Tile

Art Nouveau Majolica Ceramic Tile

France – 1890-to-1910

 

 

Russ Bowling-Flickr-Talavera Tile Fountain

  Talavera Tile Fountain, Mexico

Russ Bowling-Flickr

 

 

 

The Azure Blue Pool, Hearst Castle,-San Simeon California

Azure Blue Pool, Hearst Castle

San Simeon, California

 

 

 Indian Wall Tile Art

Indian ceramic wall tiles

photo Umair Ghani

 

 

Triptych Tile Panel, Mid Century, by Panos Valsamakis

Mid Century Triptych  Tile Panel by Panos Valsamakis

 

 

 

Gothic floor tiles St. Paul's Cathedral-Detroit

Gothic Pewabic Pottery Tiling by Mary Chase Stratton

St. Paul’s Cathedral-Detroit

 

 

 

Majolica Tiles at the Monastery Santa Chiara

Majolica Tiles at the Monastery Santa Chiara, Naples

 

 

 

Van-Briggle-Tiles-Colorado-Springs,-CO-by-Floyd-Muad'Dib,-via-Flickr

 Van Briggle tiles, Colorado Springs

 

 

 

French Longwy Primavera trivet, large form, colorful stylized scene with a female figure,

Longwy Primavera trivet – ceramic tile with minor crazing

Treadway Toomey

 

 

 

NEW POST  —  ‘Clay Forms’

 

1 Comment

  1. Posted November 28, 2015 at 1:25 pm | Permalink

    I’ve been trying to identify a potter from Italy for a while without much luck. I just found your site and have scoured its bowels… Thought maybe you have run across during your adventures. The piece is an 8″ high x 4″ wide wall hanging. It is a simple flat clay back with an elongated 3D figurine affixed to the clay back. All glazed with color only on the figurine. My mom’s friend said that her roommate sent it to her on a trip there years ago. The signature on the bottom right looks to be a large “Z” & “P” with possible numbers not quite legible and very “artistic” so open to interpretation… Thanks for any assistance. Your site is amazing.

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