Laurie Spugnardi

Archive for the ‘surface design’ Category

intricate tile in the william morris style

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

I love William Morris’ wallpaper designs, though I admit, an entire room would make me feel like grabbing the hedge clippers. His wallpaper patterns have a certain quality of texture, line and downright coziness to them that intrigues. Here is my attempt at enhancing those qualities: wax line method to create real 3D texture; the use of matt and gloss glazes to add depth; enlarged and cropped sections to draw attention to motifs and line-work. At this point, I think one tile, simply framed would be lovely to hang on a wall or for use as a trivet. It’s my first go-round with this series and I’m happy enough with the results to keep experimenting. What do you think?

wm_linedraw sections of black and white wallpaper, enlarged, transferred onto 6″ bisque tile then overdrawn with black wax (see technique on my hand painted tile page)

wm_crow1_blog crow and flowers, glazed and fired. I captured this photo at an angle to show the use of matt and gloss glazes.

wm_crow2_blog crow and flowers.

wm_grapes1_blog grapes and foliage, glazed and fired.

wm_grapes2_blog grapes and foliage.

Besides wallpaper, William Morris (and protégé William De Morgan) also designed tile for the home. Here are a few samples of their work.
11347-large Tiles images

Tags: art tile, crow, tile design, william morris, william morris tile
Posted in goings on in the studio, inspiration, surface design | No Comments »

asian inspired ceramic tile mural: update

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Just thought I would load the final installment of the mural I worked on this winter for the Tea Room at Hara Massage and Wellness Center in Falmouth Maine. Visit my recent post of the project in progress. Here are the images of the final in its custom frame by Phil at Shininglass Studio and the mural installed in the tea room.
hara_final_blog
hara_tearoom_blog

Tags: custom tile, hand painted tile, tile design, tile mural
Posted in goings on in the studio, inspiration, surface design | 1 Comment »

Asian Inspired Ceramic Tile Mural

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

A while back I blogged about a tile project I had been commissioned to work on. I thought it was about time I updated you on its start-stop-start progress. Luckily, I have the nicest client and they have been super patient as I have been in the process of moving my studio to a new location (more on that later). But I digress, on with the show and tell…
harainprogress
-on the drawing table-
Glazes are chosen for hue, value, texture and finish (high gloss to matte). The image is transferred onto tile, the image is drawn with wax to create areas to be filled with glaze. My tool of choice for glazing is a squeeze bottle, which produces a think and even coat of color.

harapaintingdetail
-detail of leaves being painted-
Different glazes are layered on top of each other to add depth and detail.

harakiln
-lifting the lid of the kiln-
Tiles are stacked on these nifty racks called tile setters, so I can fit many tiles in the kiln at one time.

haradetail
-area detail-
The colors in this detail are a little on the yellow side. The actual color is closer to the next image, except for the bright blue in the river/ocean, which is really a bright, royal blue with sparkles. Hard to catch on film…

HaraTileScansLayout
-finished tiles as they will be installed on site-
There are 35 tiles, each tile is 6 inches square, which makes this a fairly large mural. It will be installed at Hara Wellness Center in Falmouth Maine.

Posted in Uncategorized, goings on in the studio, inspiration, surface design | 3 Comments »

Urban Art: Local Color

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

One of the things I love most about my ‘hood is the natural beauty of a gorgeous sandy beach just a stroll away. Bonus, I also get an urban cityscape (in monochromatic brick, of course) as I look across the Fore River at Portland. I often leave my salty and sweet neighborhood in search of urban stimulation. I realize urban is a relative term… compared to Boston and New York, Portland is a sleepy little burg, but believe me when I tell you, most of Maine is rural. Really, really rural.

Just a few months ago I was walking back from the farmer’s market with my veggies and local honey and stopped to appreciate these works of urban art.

I don’t know if these are sanctioned or stealth, but I like them, I appreciate their presence in my little city. There is a great deal of thought and artistry that goes into these paintings. The medium may be lo-brow and the gallery may have no roof, but these qualities are part of the urban vernacular. A language perfectly appropriate in presentation and environment.

Tags: portland, street art, tagging
Posted in on design, surface design | No Comments »

Emotional Mapping

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

A few weeks ago I talked about map design and trust. Today, it’s about mapping with feelings, literally. (woe, woe, woe, feelings…)

When you open a map, what do you expect? Here’s something maybe you didn’t… a map that tells you how you may feel as you pass through a space. Christian Nold has been designing a set of city maps that do just that. He calls his project Biomapping. It’s an interesting approach to map making and seems useful for zeroing in on parts of a city that buzz and those that just hum a little. Visually the map is lovely, but until I get to walk through San Francisco myself, I’ll have to trust Christian’s feedback map. See other maps and the ongoing project at Biomapping.net