Fairly early on in my career as a ceramics artist, I received some commissions to make decorative tiles for fireplaces.
Tiles are a nuisance to make, because, as they dry and are fired, they tend to warp and shrink in unwanted ways. But they offer large surfaces to be decorated.
My wife, Sherran, created the floral design for the Campbell fireplace commission by brushing oxides on the fireplace tiles that I made and glazed.
Holubitski Hearth, mural, 1977, textured clay tiles, unglazed, ∆10.
Holubitski Hearth, mural, image two, 1977, textured clay tiles, unglazed, ∆10.
Campbell Fireplace face, mural, 1978. Glazed, design brushed on with oxides, fired to ∆10.
Campbell Fireplace, mural. In 1978 we got a request to make tiles for a fireplace face and hearth. I made the tiles and gave them a base glaze, then my wife, Sherran, who is also an artist, brushed on the floral design with oxides before they were fired to ∆10.
Olson fireplace hearth,, 1978 handmade tiles double-dipped in white glaze for colour contrast.
Olson lamp, 1978 one of two, commissioned to complement the coffee table and hearth, with shades hand woven by weaver Bente Roed Cochran.
Olson commission, tiles for fireplace hearth, coffee table, as well as two lamps, 1978.
Olson coffee table and fireplace, tiles, 1978. Glazed to emphasize colour variations, fired to ∆10.
Olson coffee table, showing the colour changes attained on the tiles by double-dipping them.
Maduc house under construction, 1979, showing the four huge chimneys and the earth berms around the walls.
In 1978 Hemingway Architects of Edmonton designed a unique house for a property near Leduc, Alberta. It was to have bermed quadrants with four huge chimneys rising from the centre. I was commissioned to make murals to go around the tops of the chimneys, as well as a couple of related door pulls. That meant sixteen murals altogether, each approximately 60 cm high by 150 cm long. The colour was to be close to the colour of the brick, so I used clay high in iron oxide, fired unglazed to ∆10.
Given free rein, I decided for a theme, that each chimney could represent a season and each side of each chimney would represent the direction it faced. Thus the east side of the spring chimney, the could feature maple syrup collection; the summer chimney facing south could feature wine making, and so on.
After designing each mural on paper – very elemental, stick-figure like – I rolled out half inch thick slabs and cut other slabs to stick to the surface of the base slab, in some cases to three thicknesses. It had to be quite dimensional so that the images could be seen from a good distance.
The four Maduc House chimneys, 1979, showing the west and south faces. The chimneys are designated, from the left, spring, winter, autumn, summer.
Spring, west and south, showing sowing crops and apple cider making.
Spring, north and west. The north showing deer, a lumberjack, salmon jumping up river and in the west, the sowing scene again.
summer, south and east, wine making and Inuit activities.
summer, north and west, ranching and farming.
autumn, south and east, picking apples and having fun at the beach.
autumn, west and south, corn is high and picking apples.
winter, north and west. Ice fishing and duck hunting.
winter, north and east, fishing and Inuit activities.
front door pulls, showing the abstract, but related designs to the chimney murals.
the front doors of the Maduc house, showing the pair of door pulls mounted on steel plates.
