Welcome

Tiles have a long and rich history. My love of texture and medieval history lead to an exploration of tiles. In the gallery below you can scroll through the results of my exploration. 

How did I get started in making tiles?  The real answer is an accident.  Here is a brief outline of the story. Doug, the creator of the pots and teacher of cooking in clay classes, and I have been doing work together for years – generally with him throwing and me decorating rounded surfaces.  I enjoyed the decorating with Norse stamps, relief carving, Mishima, sgraffito work, painting underglazes, and adding sculptural elements. Suddenly, there was a car accident and a snowstorm.  In the car accident, the seat belt caused bruising and meant Doug could not throw.  This started a month-long visit and me left alone in the studio with a lot of clay.  Tiles were the amazing choice. The ability to capture moments and messages in clay brought a clarity I wasn’t expecting.

That was over four years ago, and I have been continuing my exploration of the joy of tiles ever since.  Pre-COVID days, we would get a chance to be together every 4 months or so.  While Doug headed to paid work, I would be left in his home studio and become absorbed in the clay. (Discovering hours later that I hadn’t even refilled my coffee cup.) In-between times when I was home in Ontario, I would work as a studio assistant at the Guelph Pottery Studio. 

These days, back in Nova Scotia, I am working on setting up my own practice and studio.  Medieval tiles, rock and horn carvings, sailor’s scrimshaw work, use of line in lino prints, images taken on long distance hikes, the fairy tales associated with trees and the sea all of these influence my work.  

Please take a look through the gallery attached and feel free to reach out to kirsten@gryph.com to connect.  As they are available single tiles will be also posted in the Pipkin Pottery’s for sale section.