Laura McCaul is an artist who loves to carve.  After receiving her B.F.A. in printmaking, she made hand-rubbed woodcuts of her ancestors before turning to ceramics.  Jim McCaul designs and hand builds finely crafted furniture and accessories featuring Laura's black-wared tiles.  Jim and Laura live and work at their home on a lake in the woods of northwestern Wisconsin.  Their art is available through galleries, art fairs and private commissions.

"Chickadee Portrait" 4 x 6 inches

Each of Laura's pieces is one of a kind: hand-built and hand-carved. She uses her own version of a Native American firing process called blackware (made famous by Maria Martinez), finishing her work with terra sigillata, a refined slip that is rubbed to a sheen.  After a bisque firing to make the pieces functional and washable, Laura fires them outdoors, with wood, in a three barrel kiln.  When the fire is hot enough, the space between the middle and inner barrels is filled with sawdust and then covered.  The trapped carbon is permanently absorbed into the clay producing unique earthy tones and flashings.  Laura's process was featured on the PBS "Hometime" series in 2001, when her tiles were used in the Autumn Woods House.

"Bubble Talk Long" 11 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches

Laura began as a printmaker but decided not to continue in that medium. For three years she took classes at the University of MN in Duluth, spending every break in the ceramics studio. Finally, at age 35, she took her first ceramics class, taught by Thomas Kerrigan, who became her mentor. She says she loved the quiet, peaceful way he worked. Although she was supposed to make 3D pieces for that class, she was desperate to complete something to her satisfaction.  In the end, it turned out to be her first carved tile.  After that, she became obsessed with clay. 

Walnut Framed Oak and Pine Mural

Jim and Laura had a longtime dream to collaborate: putting her tile into his furniture. When their youngest went to college, they moved  to their cabin on a lake with 37 acres of woods in northern Wisconsin.  In that setting, nature surrounds them and inspires their  furniture and accessories, created with traditional joinery, often on solar-kiln dried quartersawn black walnut.  (Click to view the construction process here.)

Laura and Jim do commissions; check out this page to see examples of what they can do and then contact them to discuss the design possibilities for your project.