Cirrelda snider-bryan

 Tile making happens a lot on my clay bench. Leftover scraps/strips of clay from making square tiles become fodder for imagination play. Pieces end up making clay stamps, freeform slabs, medallions, vessels from scraps, and sometimes pieces for mosaic. Thin strips coil into spirals. But it is all spontaneous and in-the-moment. That is where the joy in the process lies for me. 

Telling a story is paramount for expression – whether in writing, clay, drawing, or with a brush. Documenting relationships matters to me. The tile series, Tiles for Co-inhabitants, (#tilesforcoinhabitants) comes from over 40 drawings turned into cavity molds which produce the same image again and again. 

  At the age of 29, I built a 6-post structure at the back fence of the yard, under old shady Elm. Having experienced Pot Hollow, the place for clay education at Ghost Ranch, I wanted the same open-air experience in a studio. Now, 40 years later, “Pot Hollow South” is devoted to mosaic creation, following loosely the mosaic icon Ilana Shafir’s “Spontaneous Mosaic” manifesto of having myriad bins and holders of materials available to inspire combinations. Like Shafir, most of mine are handmade by me from the shapes that remain on the board.