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Centre for Visual Arts and Culture
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Tile Talks - A Victorian Decorative Tiles workshop (CNCS-CVAC joint event)

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29 April 2024 - 29 April 2024

10:00AM - 3:30PM

Palatine Law PCL054, Palatine Centre, Stockton Road, Durham, DH1 3LE

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This CNCS-CVAC in person event brings together 3 leading experts in the field of Victorian Decorative Tiles for a lively hands-on workshop covering tile design, production, conserving and collecting.

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Victorian decorative tiles and tile press

Each session will begin with a 30-minute talk from the expert followed by Q&A and then 30 minutes of handling and discussion. Join us for this full day event, with lunch provided.

Programme

Session 1 10:30-12:00

William De Morgan: His Life and Tiles (Tile making, Glazing and Design Techniques)

Sarah Hardy, Director of the De Morgan Museum, De Morgan Foundation 

This first session examines the life and progressive ceramic techniques of William De Morgan, a revivalist, mathematician, and friend and collaborator of William Morris.  

Coffee break 11:45am – 12noon

Session 2: 12:00-13:15

Tulips and ‘Arabesques': The Profound Inspiration of Islamic Art Models in Late Victorian Ceramics

Beatrice Campi - Islamic and Indian Art Expert, Researcher and Sale Advisor

This session will introduce the influences of Islamic art on the designs, colours and motifs of a range of Victorian artists, with practical exercises in how to distinguish between different interpretations of these patterns in contemporary ceramics.

Lunch 13:15-14:00

Session 3: 14:00-15:30

Innovations in the production and decoration methods of Victorian tiles

Hans van Lemmen - President of the Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society

This workshop will look at improvements in encaustic tile making, the invention of dust-pressing clay tiles and new methods of transfer-printing that made the mass-production of Victorian tiles possible.

Appropriate examples of Victorian tiles will be made available for students to handle and discuss in all of these sessions.

Speakers

Sarah Hardy

Sarah Hardy

Director of the De Morgan Museum, De Morgan Foundation

Sarah Hardy is a Victorian Arts & Crafts specialist, whose research interests include William Morris’s revival of embroidery, William Blake’s influence on the Pre-Raphaelites, Bookbinding and the Kelmscott Press. Her museum career has included the Fitzwilliam, Helsmhore Mills Textiles Museum, Lady Lever Art Gallery, and the National Gallery. Her recent work on William De Morgan’s use of mathematics in his ceramic designs, featured in De Morgan acclaimed touring exhibition, 'Sublime Symmetry'.

Beatrice Campi

Beatrice Campi

Islamic and Indian Art Expert, Researcher and Sales Advisor

Beatrice Campi is an accomplished art specialist, multi-lingual professional auctioneer, and passionate researcher of Islamic and Indian art. She lectures on her research, cultural heritage, auctions, curation, and the art world, to academic and non-specialist audiences. Formerly of Christie’s auction house in London, she moved to Chiswick Auctions in 2018 where established the Islamic and Indian Art Department, personally handling thousands of artworks, until going freelance in November 2023.

Hans van Lemmen

Hans van Lemmen

President of the Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society

Hans van Lemmen taught art and design history at Leeds Polytechnic and Leeds Metropolitan University. His interest in tiles arose from studying Victorian architecture in Yorkshire; he is an avid tile collector and exhibitions specialist advisor in Britain and abroad. He is the President of the Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society, and his books include Tiles in Architecture (1993), Delftware Tiles (1997) and 5000 Years of Tiles (2013). He works in the Rosa Spier Huis community, Netherlands.

Pricing

Free to attend