Cheers!!

Brotha Clint from the Bayview Opera House, and Judy Nemzoff, Director of Community Arts and Education for the San Francisco Arts Commission, at the Artisans Ball, December 8, 2012.  photo by Adrian Mendoza

CHEERS!  The members of Artistic License would like to thank everyone who came to the fabulous Artisans Ball last month at the Green Room in San Francisco.  The event celebrated the Guild's 30th anniversary and raised $4,500 for the Bayview Opera House and its community and arts programs.

Here are some highlights from this swell affair!  Thanks to Adrian Mendoza for the photography.

Guild members Erik Kramvik, Allan Dragge, Steve Rynerson, and Riley Doty enjoy the view of City Hall from the loggia of the Green Room.

Guild members Tim Hanson and Lorna Kollmeyer greeting people at the Artisans Ball.

The very elegant Karen Kiely and Neill Allen dancing at the Artisans Ball

 Jill Pilaroscia (a founding member of Artistic License) with wallpaper designer and Hall of Fame member Bruce Bradbury and his partner, Romeo.

revelers at the Artisans Ball

Lorna Kollmeyer and her band, the Dunes, performed at the Artisans Ball

Guild members Bruce Bradbury, Paul Duchscherer, and Steve Rynerson on background vocals

Dancing at the Artisans Ball

Guild president Chris Yerke with a State Senate Resolution honoring Artistic License presented by Brotha Clint of the Bayview Opera House.

Paul Duchscherer sits in with the band...  did you know he can sing?  Well now you do!

Melinda Morey, Erin Mahoney, guild member Lynne Rutter, and Erika Von Petrin.

Artistic License members Paul Duchscherer, Elise Shadow, and Erik Kramvik.

Chris Yerke and Peter Morenstein at the Artisans Ball.

all photos in the post © by Adrian Mendoza

Resurrecting a Roman Soldier

Guild member Chris Yerke of Restoration Workshop, shares the details of  restoring an historic fireplace in a San Francisco Queen Anne house.

the beautifully restored fireplace

In 2010 I was engaged in the exterior restoration of a Queen Anne house by the prolific designer/builder Cranston and Keenan.   Cranston and Keenan homes are staples of San Francisco’s Western Addition. This house turned out to be a particular jewel. It was clearly one of their more expensive models, replete with many fine examples of interior decorative arts products of the day. Moreover, during its 117 year existence it had survived practically free of painting and remodeling. It had suffered some deterioration with time and neglect, but was largely intact as a time capsule of this particular architect’s style.

Due to the zeal of our passionate client, it was not long before I was tasked with a number of interior restoration projects, concurrent with the exterior restoration. Among these was the restoration of the 5 fireplaces.  Like the other fireplaces there were loose and/or missing tiles, the firebox was badly deteriorated, and the wood surround could use a touch up from a restorer. The owner had been lamenting the long lost art tile containing the upper torso of the reclining Roman soldier.

the missing torso tile

As with many fields of endeavor, the secret to being a good general contractor lies not in knowing everything, but rather in knowing how to ask the right questions. I went to my favorite source for all things tile, Riley Doty of Doty Tile.  Accustomed to hunting up missing period hardware, I asked Riley what he figured my chances would be of coming up with a surviving example of that tile.  He laid my odds at something just slightly better than finding the Holy Grail. He explained that these tiles were made in a variety of different glazes.  The odds of finding one that had survived demolition or been stuck in some hidden corner of an old stock room were quite remote, and if I did find one, the chances of it having the matching glaze would be astronomical.    He then offered that he knew an artisan who could reproduce the missing tile. He gave me the contact information for L’Esperance Tile Works in Rock City Falls, NY.

Catalogue page from American Encaustic Tile Co.

In order to reproduce the tile, we would need some idea of what the original looked like.  Riley came to the rescue by contacting the Tile Heritage Foundation to see if this set of tiles was to be found in their collection of old tile catalogues. His theory that the tiles were made by the American Encaustic Tile Company turned out to be correct, and the Tile Heritage foundation quickly located the catalogue page with photos of the three roman soldier tile sets, exactly as seen on the fireplace.

Linda sculpting the Roman soldier in wax

I removed the remaining two tiles of the set, packed them very well, and sent them off to Linda Ellet of L’Esperance Tile works. Linda would be tasked with sculpting the reproduction tile.  She explained that among the challenges would be shrinkage in drying and firing.  Because clay shrinks, you have to make a calculated guess and sculpt the tile appropriately oversized in its wet state. Then you hope everything will line up exactly with the originals after shrinkage. It is a real head-scratcher, involving years of experience offset by the fact that the shrinkage of clay is subject to many factors not entirely controllable by the artisan. The original sculptor had the advantage sculpting all three tiles at the same time, vastly aiding his chances that all the many visual elements would align from one tile to the next.

Tile figure sculpted in wax

In the end, Linda sculpted the entire panel of three tiles to aid her in the process.  She did such a superb job that the head tile aligns beautifully with original center tile. The reproduction is installed in its place at the head of the two originals.

The restored fireplace

Riley Doty reset loose tiles, realigned shifted tiles, and fixed a multitude of grouting issues.  United Chimney, Inc. rebuilt the firebox and smoke shelf, expanding depth of the firebox in the process and adding a damper. The restored product is the result of a pleasing and fruitful collaboration between highly skilled artisans.

Mosaic Tiled Bench at Lincoln Park

Riley Doty setting tile for the Lincoln Park Bench

California Street in San Francisco rises as it approaches its western terminus at Lincoln Park, meeting a set of concrete steps dating to the early 1900s that lead up to Lincoln Park in the Richmond District of the city. Thanks to the Friends of Lincoln Park, there is now a beautiful new tiled bench that greets you as you ascend.
The bench is the most recent creation of mosaic artist and tile maker, Aileen Barr.

Installation of the tiles was a challenge, expertly handled by Guild Member  Riley Doty and Phylece Snyder. The imagery for the Lincoln Park bench was derived from historic photographs from the 1890s, including the Sutro Baths and the Midwinter International Exposition in 1894. The tiles themselves were produced in Barr’s ceramic studio in San Francisco, supplemented by the rectangular tiles supplied by Heath Ceramics in Sausalito.
 

With thanks to Tile Heritage for this story - read more at the Tile Heritage website

Clay Expectations in Oakland

Art Deco tile facade of the I. Magnin Building, Downtown Oakland.

“Clay Expectations” 
is being presented by the Tile Heritage Foundation as a fund-raising event featuring the work of tile artists and artisans in support of the Foundation’s archival and cataloging programs now underway.

Contemporary tile and mosaic artists will show and sell their wares side by side with historic tile dealers; scholars will present both lectures and tours, and both clay and mosaic workshops will be available.

This unique one-day even is being presented for the first time in a tile-clad historic setting ideally suited to the occasion.

Sunday September 12, 2010
Join tile expert Riley Doty for a short walking tour:
Tiles and Terra Cotta in Uptown Oakland
Presented by Oakland Heritage Alliance

UPDATE:  
On Sun. Sept. 19 Riley Doty will give a repeat presentation--  Anybody who wants to can join our small group - meet at corner of 17th St. & Webster St. in Oakland at 10:00 am. Tour lasts 2 1/2 hours and there is no admission charge. No reservations, just show up.

New Life for Oakland Cathedral's historic artwork

Artistic License members salvage historic elements for Oakland's new Cathedral of Christ the Light


<--St.Simon, stained glass from the Cathedral St. Francis de Sales, restored by Reflection Studios

Prior to the demolition of Oakland's former cathedral, Saint Francis de Sales, Allen Dragge's Reflection Studios was hired to safely remove all the stained glass windows. CMA Conversion Management Associates, worked on behalf of architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to facilitate the restoration and installation of historic architectural elements in the new building. The stained glass panels have now been reinstalled in the mausoleum of the new cathedral, each one backlit and surrounded by a field of translucent onyx.

Reflection Studios also salvaged a sculptural ceramic mural which had been mounted on the wall at St. Francis de Sales. This ceramic panel resided in storage crates from 1993 until 2008. CMA contracted with guild members Diane Winters and Riley Doty to restore and install this colorful piece of ceramic art. It consists of thirty pieces, many sculpted in high relief and weighing as much as fifty pounds. Some pieces suffered damage from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and from the removal process. (One section repaired by Diane had been broken into fourteen separate pieces!)

Diane Winters working on repairs to the tile mural

This artwork dates from 1962, executed by the Rambusch firm, commissioned for installation at St. Francis de Sales at the time of its consecration as the cathedral for the diocese of Oakland. The artwork seems to express that time in history, immediately following Vatican II. Several historic changes were initiated then, including saying Mass in many native languages instead of universally in Latin. The spirit of reaching out to diverse cultures seems reflected in this ceramic piece, which features traditionally executed scenes from the life of St. Francis de Sales, but with background patterns that suggests ethnic arts such as weaving or basketry. As a whole this lovely piece truly is a relic of the church's history, even though its origin is relatively recent in the larger scheme of things.

Riley Doty, working on repairs to the tile mural

In its original configuration the entire piece measured 10.5 feet high and over 5 feet wide. When Doty and Winters laid out the mural "dry" on the floor of the storage warehouse the architects from SOM were initially disappointed to observe these dimensions because the space they had in mind for it had a nine foot ceiling. SOM, working with Father Paul Minnihan from the cathedral, developed a wonderful solution to this problem. The restored mural was installed as a relic, with the main body attached to a specially constructed backing which hangs a few inches away from the back wall. The remaining sections sit adjacent, artfully placed on podiums, and the whole makes up a lovely composition.

Restored tile mural fragments, displayed in the new cathedral.

This composition is displayed as part of the Donor Wall. Both this and the stained glass in the mausoleum reside on the ground level, one floor below the cathedral. A visit to the sanctuary above is a must-see for first time visitors. The space created by architect Craig Hartman of SOM is breathtakingly beautiful and at the same time calm and serene.

--- Riley Doty

AL members featured in Old House Interiors

Cover Story!

Check out the December 2008 issue of Old House Interiors on newstands now, which features the work of a number of Artistic License artisans.

In this cover illustration the art glass windows by Theodore Ellison, fireplace tilework designed by Paul Duchscherer, tiles made by Diane Winters, tilework installed by Riley Doty.
Elsewhere in this same house are built-ins and furniture designed and built by Debey Zito, and interior painting by Robert Dufort of Magic Brush.

Amazing baths in Old House Journal

Beautiful Bathrooms for the Period Home

Master tilesetter Riley Doty is featured in this well-illustrated article in Old House Journal.

"The bathroom in Becky Waring's 1906 Berkeley, California, brown-shingle cottage—a house some attribute to Julia Morgan—was dingy, with linoleum on the floor and unappealing 1970s white tile set in stained grout. "I wanted the bath to look as nice as the rest of the house, while maintaining historical authenticity," Becky explains. So she researched period bathrooms everywhere she could, and did extensive product scouting. "It didn't matter if the fixtures were cheap or pricey," she says. "They had to look right." She also found Riley Doty, a master tilesetter with the San Francisco-based restoration group Artistic License, to help guide her."



The WC in Becky Waring's circa 1906 bungalow, tiled by Riley Doty
photo from Old House Journal.

Tiles and Terra Cotta in "Uptown Oakland"

Check out this cool event with our own Riley Doty


You are invited to join Riley Doty and the Oakland Heritage Alliance for "Tiles and Terra Cotta in Uptown Oakland"
Sunday August 24, 2008
A Walking Tour and Benefit for Oakland Heritage Alliance *
Time: 2 - 1/2 hours; Fairly easy walking

<---- the Howden Building, Oakland, photo by Daniel Martinez


We will survey Oakland's glorious legacy of architectural ceramics, viewing about 20 examples dating from years 1914 - 1931.

Particular attention will given to the preservation needs of terra cotta. Some buildings have been treated very well and others rather badly; we will learn by example about some of the problems of maintenance and
restoration of this wonderful material.

Meet at the Howden Building at 17th St. & Webster St. in Oakland
Tour begins at 10:00 a.m.
Come early to register and to view the Howden Building's tilework. We will try to have the entire interior open - not just the restaurant space.

Cost: $15.00 / * $10.00 for OHA members.
Free admission to anyone who joins OHA on the day of the tour.
easy street parking on Sunday / 5 minute walk from 19th Ave BART station.