Ed Mighell

Posted on August 3, 2013August 3, 2013 by Ed Mighell — 1 Comment

Seven Multiglazed Tiles

Six-inch square art tiles, multiglazed, $75 each, Cook Inlet glacial clay

The new scanner is up and running. Thought I’d try posting a few images at one time and in a larger image size since internet access is getting faster. All these tiles were run through the etching press on July 23 and fired on July 31. All were tiles that were sold out at my vendors booth at the weekend market in Anchorage. And since making these tiles, other designs have sold out. It is near impossible to keep up during the height of the season!

I was at the Alaska Native Heritage Center yesterday and a large bull moose got into the grounds even though the area is fenced off. It stayed in the shallow lake in the center of the culture walk and put on quite a show for hundreds of visitors that lined the shores taking pictures.

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Ed Mighell — 2 Comments

Fireweed Plant Impression

Fired off another load of plant impressions. Made several of the fireweed flower impressions since a lot of people love them and they are all over in Alaska.

Started selling art tiles at the ANHC, Alaska Native Heritage Center, again last week and this week. ANHC had a Monday work shop on how to process salmon skin for baskets and rain coats. It was so cool but the parts thrown away were stinking up the place near the dumpsters yesterday and today. The lady next to me had some mammoth ivory jewelry. How often does one see mammoth ivory jewelry?

It has gotten into the 80’s several times this summer in Anchorage. I’ve lived in Anchorage since 1980 and I can’t remember it ever getting into the 80’s. Heck, we are lucky if it gets into the 60’s, which for some summers is rare. But there you have it, by my count, we have had six 80 degree days. I just may be able to plant that ginkgo tree that I’ve been dreaming about.

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Ed Mighell — 1 Comment

Turquoise Crystaline Glaze Plant Impressions

Plant impression & crystalline glaze — Plant Impression Tiles

Array of four-inch plant impressions, $30 each.

The phote is from an iphone since my scanner is kaput. It’s hard to take a decent photo of a glossy surface. Three of the tiles have a ginkgo leaf. Anchorage has one ginkgo tree and it is inside at the University since it is too cold for them here. I picked up a few ginkgo leaves at the Chicago Botanic garden after a few leaves fell from a tree after a rain. Half of the tiles are sold already, and they just came out of the kiln last Thursday. I will print flower impressions tomorrow in the four, six, and eight-inch sizes. I will do some Fireweed, wild geranium, Sitka rose, and dogwood for this next week.

I’m at the mid way point of my ninth season at Anchorage weekend market, and it has slowed down sales-wise, but on-line sales have sort of picked up the slack. I think it has something to do with people now buying more on the web, so other places that people use to spend is loosing some of its volume.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center will carry my art tiles again starting this week.

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Ed Mighell — 2 Comments

Mammoth Tile

Six-inch square, $85 for the red sky and $75 for the blue sky. The higher price tiles are a two part glaze process and take more time to make. A friend bought a lot of tiles, including field tiles, from me for a backing to a wood stove and asked if I could design and make a mammoth tile for his son who loves mammoths.

I’m reading “Ginkgo” by Peter Crane and plan to make a ginkgo leaf tile next. Ginkgo leaves are a popular item with the Arts and Crafts movement and will go nicely with a bungalow home. I didn’t know the tree has been around for over 250 million years. Wow. I picked up the book at the Chicago Botanic Garden along with a membership that has already paid for itself. Last year I got “Founding Garderners” by Andrea Wulf from the same gift shop. It’s cool to know that the founders of our country were big into gardening.

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Ed Mighell — 3 Comments

Early April In the Pyrenees

Had to post one picture from our trek across Northern Spain.

Now back to tile stuff. Sold tiles at the Moravian Tile Festival May 18 & 19 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and then at the 57th Street Fair June 1 & 2 in Chicago. I will be in the Gold Coast arts & crafts fare in Chicago June 29 & 30. Made a new mammoth tile design which I’ll post next. Sold three 12″ tiles to the Alaska State Council of the Arts for their art lending library (don’t know what else to call it). My inventory is getting low, I can’t keep up, and now I have several orders for groups of tiles. I plan to post a tile related item at least once a week.

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Ed Mighell — 1 Comment

Within the 100 Km mark of Santiago on the Camino

Wish I could post pictures. The Spring country side is beautiful with a lot the trees in bloom. We have walked by apple, chestnut, and magnolias. The small villages take you back into the middle ages with their cobbled streets and stone walled homes and fences. Much of the surfaces are covered in moss and lichens, as are the clay and slate covered rooftops. I only have ten minutes left on the coin operated internet connection here in a cafe near the municipal albergue (hostel).

Only two more stages to walk out of thirty-three. We walked for two weeks to Belarado and hopped on a bus to O´Cebreiro about seven days ago. It was the highest part in Galicia and was windy and cold. Yesterday it snowed a little and then drizzled a bit before we arrived into Palas De Rei. Wore pants, shirt, sweater, and wind/rain jacket and was ok till stopping for water or snack breaks.

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Ed Mighell — Leave a comment

On the Camino de Santiago

Hello,

I´ve been hiking on the Camino de Santiago across Northern Spain for the past two weeks. My Dad is doing it with me and we are going at his pace since he is 82 years old. Still we are averaging about 15 Km or more a day and that is amazing given his age. He is an old athlete and use to do ironman 100 mile marathons up until his mid 70´s. Hope that I´m as active as he is when I get to be his age.

Tonight we are in Viloria de la Rioja at an albergue (hostel) that cost only 5 euros. All the pilgrim hostels are reasonable. We have met people from all over. We thought it would be less crowded walking the Camino, but in Logorno, the municipal albergue was full when we arrived. I´ve noticed that the Camino is becoming more popular for mountain bikers too. There are about 15 walkers for every biker. The afternoon sun is quite hot, especially for a person from Alaska. The temperatures now are like Anchorage summer temperatures.

Gotta go take a nap.

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Ed Mighell — Leave a comment

Temporary Change

Hello, I’m going to use my tile blog to post items from a pilgrimage I’m taking with my Dad in Spain for the next five weeks. We will be hiking the Camino de Santiago.

Sorry for not posting tile related stuff the last few months. I finished a nice commission for a building downtown, and then a wall backing for a wood stove for a friend. I sold lots of tile at the Fur Rondy during the Iditarod sled dog races, and also not so many at the Best of the Northwest arts & crafts show in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. Alaska Geographic will be carrying my tiles in their Denali store and later in the Homer store.

When I get back, I’ll be selling at the Moravian Tile Festival in Doylestown, PA in May, and then twice in Chicago in June. And of course the Anchorage Weekend Market starts in May. It’s back to the races.

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Ed Mighell — 2 Comments

Basement Tile At the NANA Building in Anchorage

Click on the picture to see a larger image.
12″ x 12″ x 0.7″ Multiglazed tile, Cook Inlet glacier clay, cone 6 oxidation
$350.00

The fish in the center are dolly varden, arctic char, and pike. This tile was the last one of thirteen that I made for NANA Development Corp. and it is outside the elevators on the basement floor. I got a ton of compliments from people that have walked through the building just to look at the art tiles. Had some interesting comments the last time I posted the cut-out that went into making the plate that is impressed into the clay slab, so I decided to add another post but along side the tile that it made. I usually sell my art tiles during the summer, but the winter commissions have been picking up, so I don’t starve during the winters anymore.

A lot of the old art work along the west and north coasts of Alaska had a sort of circular aspect to it because it would fit onto a drum skin or inside a wood food bowl. I used the circular motif on several of the tiles for NANA and on the tile above. The x-ray view of the caribou and the seal is also a style common in the area.

This isn’t tile related but I feel like writing something about native Alaskans. During the superbowl, a local commercial came on saying how over a thousand students have benefitted from the ANSEP (Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program), a part of the University of Alaska system. It made me feel good. I was just the third native Alaskan to graduate from the Anchorage civil engineering program way back in the day, and now it is more common.

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Ed Mighell — 1 Comment

Berry Picking

Twelve-inch Tile, $350, Collagraph impression on Cook Inlet Glacier Clay, multiglazed, Cone 6 oxidation.

Berry Picking in Alaska. A favorite pasttime for many. The birchbark baskets are in a style found in the Northwest around the Kotzebue sound area.

Adding a bit of folk lore to the tile, on the upper part are the hare as the sun and the fox as the moon, and they are in an ongoing chase. That is why night follows day.

I got invited to the Best of the Northwest Art and Fine Craft Show in Seattle on March 23 & 24. Fun. The economy is on the mend and I did well in Seattle at a tile show last Fall, so I thought I’d try some other shows in the lower 48 (what people in Alaska call the rest of the U.S., except Hawaii.)