Texture Tiles

I have a love of nature and the inspiration for my most of my artwork lies in the beauty found in the world around us. I especially love how what initially appears as uniform from a distance, on closer inspection offers a lot of variation in rich detail. To mimic the natural beauty found on a closer level, I tend to incorporate repeated organic shapes into my art. I find the repetition to put me in a zen state while in the repetive process of creation.

For this particular piece I was especially inspired by the paper quilled artwork of Amy Gesner. I wanted my texture tiles to illustrate the movement and flow of water and all the elements I selected for this work of art had an aquatic theme in mind. For example; the title for the artwork, the select color scheme, the way I arrange the tiles, the repeated molecule like textures imitating something that might appear on the ocean floor or in a coral reef, the movement of the separate molecules that appear to flow through the piece in addition to the drift wood backing.

Submerged (h 18” x w 12” x l 14”)

Research

Amy Genser works with paper, paint, metal and wood to explore her obsession with texture, pattern, and color. Her artwork reflects on natural forms ,organic shapes, colors and textures. I am especially inspired by her choice of color pallet and the variety of wonderful organic textures she achieves by incorporating paper quilling into her artwork. I plan to incorporate the organic forms and natural composition into my own art piece.

Aqua Moon Amy Genser (paper & acrylic on canvas) 2016

Regina Farrell plays with repeated organic forms using ceramics. She strives to establish a connection between purpose, form, and the sheer enjoyment that she experiences while making her pieces. While I am not as drawn to her choice of color in her work “Wall Piece”, I am attracted to her choice to incorporate natural forms as a way to illustrate texture quite successfully. I plan to incorporate her use of a variety of interesting and creative forms in my own work.

Delicate Earth II Regina Farrell (ceramic) 2016

Laura McNamara created beautiful sculptural ceramics with porcelain clay and draws inspiration from the world of science. Even without any use of color applied, her pieces draw you in and leave you in a wondrous awe. Her pieces are less of a tile in style but I am inspired by her use of repetition and her mastery of sculpting organic forms. In my opinion, while her pieces are very successful in all white I do think they could also be enhanced with more use of bold colors. After looking at her works of art I am inspired to incorporate some of the textures that appear in nature in my own texture tiles.

Untitled cell form Laura McNamara (porcelain) 2016

Heather Knight’s porcelain sculptures incorporate the use of natural elements, patterns, and textures from nature. I lam especially attracted to her use of light and shadows in her works of art. While she does not incorporate much use of color into her work, I find her masterful use of texture has a way of holding your gaze. I plan to incorporate some repetition of patterns and organic textures in my own work of art that are also inspired by what you see in the natural world.

Matchstick Wall Tile Heather Knight (ceramic) 2018

Lisa Stevens’ ceramic sculptures mimic forms and repeated shapes you find under the ocean. She enhances her pieces with bright colors such as vibrant greens and oranges giving it a whimsical effect. I am especially attracted to her pieces that are made up of multiple textures which appear almost like coral. I am inspired to incorporate this mixture of aquatic like textures into my own work of art.

Untitled Lisa Steven (ceramic) 2020

Thumbnail Sketches

With this piece, I began by researching artists that incorporate dynamic and interesting texture into their artwork. One artist that I found to be especially inspiring is Amy Gesner. I found her works to be engaging and she does amazing work with varying textures.

As part of the ideation process, I created several thumbnail sketches to streamline my own texture tile inspired design. The idea I landed on focused on the textures that represent what you might find below the ocean. As would naturally follow, the color scheme is representative of a water theme with an assortment of blues, blacks, and white, with highlights of pink and yellow.

Project Proposal

The Process

In order to achieve the mixing color blends, I used a spaghetti flattening machine to mix different colors until I came to a wonderful blend of blue with a little white. This is what is used as the setup for the background in each tile.

I decided for my original composition to cookie cut out six main tiles arranged in a linear configuration. I purposely left some of the sides raw and rough to help with the organic and aquatic effect. I further worked these by adding organic looking rounded pieces of clay to the background to mimic a varying and dynamic ocean scene.

I found the tiles needed additional work to get them to flow more naturally. To achieve this, I played with cutting curves out of the sides of each tile and reattaching them to create more unique pieces with an aquatic-like appearance. In addition, I added separate rounded pieces of clay to the clay background mimicking something you might find under the ocean. Once I decided on an order, I marked each tile to make sure I didn’t lose track of the look and arrangement I arrived at. As final touch, I created separate rounded pieces that mimicked the organic design on each tile to trail off onto a backing. The hope for this additional approach is to enhance the movement within the piece and to help the aesthetic of appearing like water.

In order to set the pieces, they were placed in an oven on parchment paper at 275 degrees for 30 minutes. A good note is to also cover the tiles with something to hold in the heat so they heat and set evenly.

After they were cooked, they were left to cool at room temperature. Once tiles were completely cooled, I then coated with a layer of mat ‘modge podge’ to bring out a glossy effect to mimic water.

For displaying my completed work of art, I selected a found piece of driftwood that I pulled out of the ocean near my home. I felt this particular piece of wood would go well with the theme of the water. The natural occurring grain that appears in the wood is intended to move in the same direction as the flow of the water in each of my tiles. I gave the driftwood a coat of white stain to enhance the contrast with the tiles. I also cut individual pieces of wood to extend each tile off the surface of the board to enhance the three-dimensional effect. I secured these separate cut pieces with liquid nails adhesive.

As a final touch, I placed additional tiny clay details to the wood backing to allow for a more visual flow between each of the tiles and to suggest the appearance and movement of water.

Final Images

Reflection

Initially, I struggled with working with the polymer clay.I had a set vision in mind and the clay was not achieving the desired look I had in mind. This caused some struggle and a bit of frustration. Once I relaxed and allowed myself to take some risks I found I had more fun and found more success with the process. Since this was my first time working with polymer clay, I learned a ton during this assignment. I found the material easy to manipulate and form with just the heat of my hands and how many different textures can be created with the simple tools. A few of my favorite tools were a cookie cutter and a needle tool. These gave me the consistency I needed but the flexibility to make micro adjustments along the way.

I came to love how my project turned out to be in the end. I especially enjoy how I decided to present it on a found piece of driftwood. If I were to change anything about this piece it would be to add more tiles and to make this art piece on a larger scale. I was pleasantly surprised at how simple and rewarding this clay is to work with. I can definitely see it being something that I bring into the middle school classroom. It could be easily incorporated into a lesson on color theory and texture. A final presentation would be a class mural that arranges all the tiles of the individuals into a colorful formation to present as a whole.

Materials Required:

• 3-5 pounds Polymer clay – (colors included a variety of blues, black and small amount s of white , pink and yellow)

• Parchment paper & pan (for setting clay in oven)

Helpful Materials

• Variety of Polymer clay tools: including a spaghetti machine-to flatten and mix colors, variety of size and shape cookie cutters, clay extruder with a variety of shapes

• Plastic wrap or plastic bags for storage

• Ceramic tile (for using as a base while clay is being formed)

• Tweezers

• Interesting texture examples