Natalie and Cynthia are carving the Bayon Tree panels for the Chabot College public art grant they received.  Don’t know what a Banyon Tree looks like? Here’s an image:

Older banyan trees are characterized by their roots that grow into thick woody trunks which, with age, can become indistinguishable from the main trunk. Old trees can spread out laterally using these prop roots to cover a wide area.

“We chose to make a 4-panel mural of the Banyon Tree for the Chabot College cafeteria because this tree has lots of personality!” says Natalie.  ”The tree is grounded, rooted in place and is an icon of stability and grandeur.  I thought that would be fitting for a college setting.”   The Banyon Tree image has been with Natalie for years–since her mother gave her an Ansel Adams photograph of banyon tree roots that she tacked up in her studio.

Here’s a picture of the first panel of tiles, painted with iron oxide, waiting to be carved:

Banyon Tree tiles Chabot College

According to Cynthia, “These 4 panels of tiles making up the Banyon Tree mural will give the impression of a set of windows through which you can see this amazing tree.  At the same time, the tree mural is a solid presence in the room.  Because a tree of this size would have grown over a long period of time, it helps to put things in perspective for the viewer.”

Natalie Blake Carving the Banyon Tree for Chabot College

Carving the Banyon Tree for Chabot College

Natalie Blake Studios received a grant from Chabot College to create and install art throughout the campus.  Here’s Natalie creating a tile mural, Mandala, for the project.

Natalie Blake creating Mandala for Chabot College

Natalie Blake creating Mandala for Chabot College

Natalie Blake Studios was awarded a grant to provide art for Chabot College in Hayward, CA.  See our June1, 2011 blog post for details.

Here’s an update on the project….

Cynthia has completed the mural for the Chavez Court. It’s a grand, 64-tile mural of a tree. These are 12″ square tiles–all handmade!  The glazes are: honey, turquoise, blue and cashew.

Chavez Court mural, Chabot College

Here’s a photo of Natalie and Cynthia, taken this spring in Hayward, CA when they visited the Chabot College campus to scope out the project.

Chabot College to display  Natalie Blake Studios Artwork

Natalie Blake Studios was recently awarded a public art grant from Chabot College in Hayward, CA.   Using this grant funding, Natalie Blake Studios will produce and install ceramic wall tiles and other artwork for 5 locations on the Chabot College campus.  The studio’s proposal was chosen from a pool of 622 applicants.  The selection process involved over 500 students and campus staff.

We will post updates on this project in upcoming months. Stay tuned for more on this exciting project!

According to the statement of values for the college’s public art project:

Cynthia Parker-Houghton, who is working on this project with Natalie, recently finished carving the first tile mural for the project.  This mural will adorn the Chavez Plaza at the college.  This image shows the mural, unglazed:

handmade, ceramic tiles by Natalie Blake Studios

Here’s what Cynthia says about this piece: “Making the tree in four sections: roots, trunk, branches and leaves was a meditation on the different qualities of the different parts of the tree. The lines of the roots reach downwards grounding the tree but the same lines indicate a flow of water and nutrients upwards into the trunk and leaves. Even the flow of air surrounding the tree seems energized by the carve marks responding to the shapes I am carving around. If you look closer you can see that all the shapes are repeated within the roots, the bark, the branches, the leaves and the air. It’s  like a fractal in this way.”

Here’s Cynthia working on the mural.  the yellow door in the background leads to the New England School for Circus Arts, just across the hall from Natalie Blake Studios.

Here’s what Cynthia had to say about this mural:

“I’m smoothing out the trunk tiles here for a 64-tile tree. The tiles on the table behind me have been slipped with iorn oxide and are ready to carve.

This is the biggest tree we have made yet–it’s huge.  I often have to climb a ladder to see what I have carved and make sure it’s all working together but this time I also had to take pictures of the separate sections and put them together on our computer screen so I could see the whole piece.  Once I saw the whole piece together it was clear I needed to carve a new set of roots because the original ones were just too small.

We chose glaze colors  to reflect the vitality of the tree, to bring that energy to the public plaza where it will be installed.  Stay tuned for an image of the glazed piece.

“Spectacular!”

That’s how our client responded when she saw this image.  We agree.

This piece will be installed in the new Fountaindale Public Library in Bolingbrook, IL.  It was commissioned by Corporate Artworks, Ltd.

The 45- tile piece measures 111″ wide by 61″ high

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Fountaindale installation

We received an order for a 45-tile Tree of Life for a library in Illinois. Here’s a picture of the piece, carved, not yet bisqued.

The client wants a multi-colored tree.

We recently completed this Tree of Life piece for the Radiology Oncology facility at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, VT.

The request for proposals (RFP) stated that patients in the radiology department who are undergoing radiation treatments to eliminate cancer tumors or to alleviate pain caused by the tumors will be virtually underground all day. The light-well in the waiting area is their only connection with nature.  The RFP goes on to state that the design concept for the project is the idea of being under a canopy of trees. In the corridors outside the vaults, the skylights are large enough so that one can look up and see the branches of trees in the planters that run along the skylight on the roof.

Our piece was chosen from a pool of applicants for this installation because it addressed the thematic considerations of the request for proposals.  Specifically, the selection committee was looking for art that:

• contributes to a sense of place (why this piece would not be found in another city or outside of Vermont)
• addresses in some form the culture, landscape/natural environment, vitality, heritage or traditions of the region.
• creatively explores ideas related to this space; particularly with respect to the health center’s link to community and its focus as a place of healing and wellness.

Click here to see the work as it was being made.

Tree of Life, ceramic wall tile mural

Installing tile and glass into a sidewalk in Brattleboro

Installing tile and glass into a sidewalk in Brattleboro

Installing tile and glass into a sidewalk in Brattleboro

Click the link below to see more photos of their progress:

http://web.me.com/vermontviews/vermontviews/Brattleboro_Arts.html

We wrote in a recent blog entry (6/14/10) that Natalie and Cynthia are working on a public art piece for the Radiation Oncology Department of the Fletcher Allen Hospital in Burlington, VT.  The tile piece will consist of 2, 7-tile murals depicting tree canapies.  Natalie is busy carving her section of the mural in her studio in West Dummerston, VT. Cynthia is carving her piece here in the Brattleboro studio.  Here’s a picture of one of Natalie’s tiles:

Stay tuned for more updates on this project.

ceramic wall tile

Natalie Blake studios creating commercial wall tile mural

This spring Natalie Blake Studios responded to a request for proposals from Burlington City Arts in Burlington, VT, for artwork for the main interior feature wall in the new Radiation Oncology Department of the Fletcher Allen hospital.

In April we were notified that our proposal was selected. We will be installing 2, 7-tile murals depicting tree canopies.

Here is a picture of the forms over which the clay tiles were laid before carving.  These forms  provide the undulation of the tiles.  You can imagine a tree with its branches flowing from left to right:

creating ceramic tiles

Here is a section of one of the carved murals, before it has been bisque fired:

Carved Tree of Life wall tile piece

And here is a closeup of one of the carved ceramic wall tiles:

closeup of carved, ceramic wall tile

This piece was exhibited at the 2010 “Tell Tale Tiles and Fractured Fantasies” exhibit at the Philadelphia Magic Gardens, Philadelphia, PA.  The tiles are 12″ x 12″, sgraffito-carved.  Click on the image to enlarge.