Handmade Tile Association Newsletter

S P O T L I G H T on artists and events

July
2013

Our 14th Year

Welcome to the July 2013 spotlight on Handmade Tile Association artists We feature tile artists every month, plus links and resources (at right) to many of the tile events, gallery shows, and workshops featured around the country.

Don't forget: Registration for the 2013 Minnesota Tile Festival. This year we have lots of new ways to show and sell your work. Check it out... click here!

Tonight Tuesday 16th from 6 - 8pm is our Tile Play Date at Mercury Mosaics! We will be creating tiles for the HTA fashion show. You may also create tile for the Minnesota State Fair, too. You do not need to have a tile festival booth to participate. Come & join the fun at Mercury Mosaics, Tues., July 16, 6 p.m., 681 17th Ave. NE, Suite 160 Minneapolis, MN 55413 - see you there!
You can also follow regular updates on the Handmade Tile Association Facebook page. Click the link below and become a fan.

Enjoy the spotlight.

Untapped Resource

Sheryl VanderPol

Plymouth, Minnesota

Sheryl VanderPol is your Untapped Resource for custom artwork. Using any handmade or commercial ceramic as the canvas, we create hand-painted tiles and porcelain sinks, fired to a beautiful permanency, along with wall murals and TrompeL'oeil.

Spotlighted are two remodel projects; an avid gardener who wanted to update her bath, and make it more accessible for her needs. The tiles in the shower and the under-mount sink were custom painted and fired with her favorite florals. The second kitchen remodel was for a couple who commissioned a mural in 1996, and they loved it so much, they wanted their new kitchen to highlight another custom mural, which depicted one of their favorite spots in Italy.

Each creative process begins with conversation ... her first priority is to know the customers and what they love. "People get excited when they realize they can put a little of themselves into a design." "If you can dream it, we can do it."

Contact Info

Sheryl VanderPol

763.542.1116

www.sherylvanderpol.com

www.untappedresource.com

Suzanne Crane Fine Stoneware

Suzanne Crane

Earlysville, Virginia

Suzanne Crane began showing her work at juried arts festivals in 1997. She quit her teaching job in December 2000 and has been a self-supporting full-time potter since then. She has exhibited her work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, the American Craft Exposition in Evanston, IL, the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver, CO, The Saint Louis Art Fair, the Long's Park Art Festival in Lancaster, PA, and many others.

In 1999, she won a first place award in ceramics at the Saint Louis Art Fair. Since 2000, her work has been represented by www.Guild.com, and has been included in many print catalogues. In 2002, she began to sell her work to galleries across the US.

Matthew Crane has been married to Suzanne Crane since 1993 and is her partner in business as well. A builder by trade, he designed and built the pottery studio and continues to maintain the building and all of the equipment in addition to keeping track of taxes, insurance, accounting and other business matters. Suzanne an Matthew have designed a line of tile-topped tables and furniture together. Matthew travels to all of the shows as driver, roadie, laborer, sales rep, father of Abe, and companion.

Contact

Mud Dauber Pottery
4225 Earlysville Road
Earlysville, VA 22936
434-973-7943
email Sue@SuzanneCrane.com
www.artscraftspotteryandtiles.com

Stone Hollow Tile

Wendy Penta

Blaine, Minnesota

Wendy Penta founded her handmade tile business in St. Paul, Mn., Stone Hollow Tile, in 1997 and has produced thousands of original, limited-production, handmade tiles in the years since. Her passion for clay began while she was still in high school, when her mother built a huge high-fire kiln in their backyard and turned their basement into a working studio. Out of the potters' dust arose a mother-daughter team with a thriving stoneware business that marketed at art shows as Stone Hollow Pottery for years.

Wendy's path later diverged, as paths sometimes do, and took her to California, where she pursued another passionate interest and bought and sold antiques. Her subsequent return to Minnesota led her into the wholesale gift business, and from there into retail display and merchandising for a chain of fives stores that focused on Mission-style furniture and accessories. During all this, her passion for clay was never forgotten, and when Wendy saw an article on antique tiles in an issue of American Bungalow magazine, her passions converged and her potting impulses were instantly revitalized. She soon created a working basement studio, and Stone Hollow Tile and the potters' dust again began to rise!

All of Wendy's handmade tiles are conceived, drawn, sculpted, molded, rolled, pressed, fired, glazed, and fired again by Wendy personally with the skill of an accomplished craftswoman. Wendy's line of handmade tiles continues to expand and evolve constantly. She invites you to visit her website often.