Noodle Head to Rubber Feet: Tile Mosaic by Feral Willcox
Hello fellow Kitchen and Residential Design fans! My name is David Nolan, and I might be understudy for these days. It is quite a privilege to be writing for Paul's blog, and a quite daunting challenge as this is my first put up on any blog and I am the first of a chain of more skilled visitor authors. I wish for your sake they're all much less nervous and greater enjoyable than me.
Today I determined to do an artist profile on my excellent friend and neighbor, Feral Willcox. Unfortunately, we're best exploring her tile mosaic work because I can't probably cowl all of the innovative stores Feral pours her energy into - ceramics, sculpture, mandalas, tune, gardening - in a single submit.
Feral and I even have enjoyed a friendship for years, and now I experience her creative aspect extra as I frequently go to her studio/residing space, which is without difficulty located on the other side of our shared residence. Our precise dwelling situation with our landlady round the corner strikes a chord in my memory of Paul's symbiotic friendships together with his former neighbor-down-the-corridor Brandon (Where the Sweet Olive Grows) and his former round the corner neighbor Kevin (The Restless Sybarite).
Good pals are extraordinary to have, in particular close by.
First matters first, Feral on Feral:
I am a multi-disciplinary artist, and the whole lot I do begins with the letter P: Pottery, Poetry, Piano, and Pen-and-Ink. In all of those mediums, I'm maximum inquisitive about Pattern. I'm a sample junkie. I search for it anywhere I cross. In ceramic art, this has led me to paintings with tile mosaic, and, in 3-dimensional ceramic art, to explorations in floor layout and texture.
The first venture I saw Feral running on became a huge pool again splash for a splendid home right here in Gainesville, Florida. I had visible snap shots of the tile format previously however when you see a monstrous installation like this up close and in character, the impact is overwhelming and disconcerting at the start. Then your brain slowly grows acquainted with the myriad of form and coloration, and also you start to breathe again.
If you click on in this image or any beneath, you'll see the details of the tile and sample.
Each ceramic tile changed into individually rolled, cut, glazed and fired by means of Feral. The brightly colored glass tile inside the orderly arcs are through Karen Story at Dolce Glass Tile . The mixture of textured earth-toned ceramic and easy jewel glass interact properly in place of clash. I believe that when the pool changed into filled, the reflective exceptional of the water surface would most effective add to the playful chaotic beauty of the mural.
The element picture below is simply the tile laid out on a white backing, without grout.
The house owners later commissioned Feral for a 2nd mural for an outside wall by the outdoor showers. This privateness wall also can be regarded from the grasp bathroom, bringing glad color in the home as properly.
My preferred element picture underneath
This closing picture changed into taken of a good-looking tile backsplash Feral created for some friends in California. It is known as "Trees Sneeze" for obvious motives. Feral turned into in California teaching ceramics at a faculty in Los Olivos -The Dunn School - and some of the tile installation turned into finished by using her college students as part of their training. 
If you're interested in mastering more approximately Feral's fantastic paintings, she may be reached at feralann (at) yahoo (dot) com. Her ceramic sculpture and pottery are featured in a nearby artist cooperative gallery right here in Gainesville, called The Artistan's Guild. Stop in and notice her paintings, further to 50 different location artists, if you are ever in our lovely metropolis.