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 About Our Art Tile Features of Relief Tile Features of Relief Tile Artistic discipline: Relief is art that slightly or greatly raises the design elements from its background in a three dimensional carving. That's how we we design and sculpt the model for each style of tile. After a series of specialized steps to preserve the model for replication, we make the tiles one at a time by hand. Thus, all of our tiles are correctly perceived as original art. Clay body: Our specially formulated architectural clay body is frost and thaw proof, so our tiles are suitable for both interior and exterior use. Tile Size: The traditional methods we use to give our tile the slight variations in size that are the mark of authentic hand crafting. The sizes given are close approximations and usually vary less than 1/8 of an inch. Glaze Colors: We use our own glazing recipes to complement our clay body. We make them in small batches from nature's materials. Elements directly from the earth show a range and diversity similar to that of stone and marble; thus, our glazes reflect that fluctuation in their interesting variations. Please refer to the glaze descriptions before ordering to check the glaze range and finish. We can provide you with samples that have the typical characteristics of a glaze. Click Here to see our Purchase Information. Features Of Ancient Stone Fresco Paintings Purpose: Nocera Art Tile developed Ancient Stone Finish Fresco paintings expressly to enhance the continuous space of stone installations. Limestone, travertine and tumbled marble principally benefit from the paintings' refined sense of beauty. Contemporary Interpretations: Fresco is the time honored technique that began with imbedding pigments into the primal rock of cave walls and reached its heights in the Renaissance. It is most properly a technique for the ornamentation of great walls where noble ideas are subject to contemplation. Today such contemplation is enclosed in the intimacy of small private interiors. In fitting tribute to this artistic tradition, Nocera Art Tile has interpreted the organic unity of the fresco technique with clay and glazes, and the portrayal of gracious
themes on a small scale. Like its namesake, our Fresco Collection is intended to improve with the passage of time to the appreciation of future generations. Large size tile: Paintings are complete on a single tile so no grout lines to interrupt the composition. Hand made of our architectural clay body, at present sizes range from 10-16" square. Painting surface: Special tiles are hand made by a technique that creates a surface with the feel of classic fresco. The painting surface is napped with a light grain and the tile's edges are softened. Every tile adds to the uniqueness of its painting, because like the images, no two are alike. Paintings: Painted one by one, the artist uses each tile's distinctive surface qualities to make the painting appear to derive from the tile. He uses matte ceramic glazes and Nocera's proprietary Ancient Stone Finish to achieve the optimum "tempered fresco" effect. The painting technique and glazes, together with the single large tile, make the paintings akin to tasteful decorative art rather than ceramic tile. Colors: The beauty of the Nocera Fresco palette is found in its natural earth pigment harmonies-powerful and subdued, subtle though vigorous. Like true fresco, the pigments Nocera uses are derived from clays and rock pigments. Stone, marble and brick pigmentation perfectly complement the Ancient Stone Fresco paintings whether they are located in the interior or out of doors. Resilience: The painted image is fired to become a permanent part of the tile. It is then sealed, leaving it impervious to moisture and soil damage, and therefore, making it easy to care for. This feature makes it possible to use fine quality art work in places like a conservatory, bath, kitchen, entrance, sauna, cabana or pool. Display: Either of two tasteful functional ways can be used to display an Ancient Stone Fresco painting.
Exclusiveness: Ancient Stone Fresco paintings are a stock one-of-a-kind painting. Another rendering of the same image will be a close likeness. That's because the nuances of each tile's grain guide the artist, resulting in an individualized painting of the same image. These differences between paintings with the same image are the authenticating marks of hand painting. They assure you that there is no other exactly like it. Ancient Stone Fresco paintings are limited to an edition of fifty each and will be numbered and signed. A certificate of authenticity will be issued to the purchaser. See our Fresco Collection Acquiring Tile As Art Our sculptured and painted tiles are sold individually as art objects that bring warmth and meaning to living or work space. Tender memories linger when you celebrate special moments with fine art. The distinctive collection includes gallery-quality glaze paintings on a single large tile, specially framed relief tiles, unframed tiles ready to hang, set on a display easel or install as regular tile, and tile topped wooden boxes. Please click on Art Tile Shop to see our current selections. Catalog This web site is our catalog. The site is updated as we add new designs, and you can print out information and pictures of any items you are interested in. The Fine Art of Painting with Ceramic Glaze The Artist with a Difference True artists in any medium have one thing in common - a finely developed sense of beauty, taste and refinement. To be a successful painter on clay, the ceramic artist must marry a complex alliance of science and engineering with this artistic vision.
The Artist - Scientist at Work The ceramic artist integrates three dimensions while working: the aesthetics of a painting, the technical chemical knowledge and the groundwork for the firing stage. The technique is not an obliging one. On one hand, he has to take a highly disciplined approach and on the other, strive for free expression. This presents the painter with limitations and physical difficulties at every turn. For example, there is no immediate way for the artist to see the final color of a natural mineral when it is applied to the clay surface. A mineral that makes blue may appear a grey-green, while white may look pale aqua. The ceramist-artist must image and calculate how colors will look together when the heat or fire brings out their real tones. He uses a kind of "technical vision" - developed by experience and years of trial and error - to bring the creative conception about. And because natural minerals are thick and granular, the ceramic artist is sometimes obligated to invent a new process or tool to attain a desired effect. Finally, when the meticulous orchestration of picture making is ended, the painting is ready to undergo the next step, trial by fire.
And yet ... Can you imagine Leonardo DaVinci trusting his paintings to a roaring furnace to bring them to life?! Still, that's the risk the ceramic artist takes everyday. That risk is the joy, despair and siren call of those in the profession, and is what makes art on clay a special accomplishment. Features of Relief Tile |
