What do Woodpeckers, Yellow Pond Lilies and Milwaukee’s architecture have in common?
They’re all inspirations for local tile artist Ben Tyjeski’s first art show called Birds and Blooms.
After years of writing about Milwaukee’s historic faience tiles and architectural terra cotta, Tyjeski has decided to put his own spin on the craft. He’s created 40 faience tiled panels that depict motifs of native flora and fauna and is exhibiting them at the Grove Gallery in Milwaukee until October 18.
Tyjeski spoke with Lake Effect’s Xcaret Nuñez about how his handmade tiles are rooted in natural and local history.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
It's clear that nature is an inspiration for this collection of work, but what inspired you to create these specific designs?
Nature is at the forefront when you're looking at the tiles, but really the inspiration for all of this work begins in downtown Milwaukee. There is a building called the Wells building — it was built in the early turn of the century, and there used to be a lot more ornamentation on that building. Today you'll see some foxes, a falcon, an owl, and there are some cattails on the building too. But there used to be life-size bear statues above the portal, bear heads all along the top of the building, and other native flora and fauna that specifically represented Milwaukee in 1833. That’s when Daniel Wells Jr. was a pioneer, and there were thriving wetlands with all these species right in the heart of the City of Milwaukee, and this building commemorated that.
I was really interested in this because most of that ornamentation on the building is gone now, much like the wildlife that used to be there. And I wanted to see more of that type of art. That discovery encouraged me to explore more natural lands in Milwaukee and where I grew up, in central Wisconsin — that, coupled with touring homes and schools to look at tiles.
Can you tell me about the different parks that you visited that inspired this work.
You know when you're a child and you see a flower you've never seen before, and you go, “Wow!” That’s a feeling I still feel as an adult when I explore these natural spaces, parks and forests. And I want to make a point of how amazing it is that someone in their 30s, or whatever their age is, can still have that feeling, and that's something I’ve felt in Milwaukee numerous times. So my journey exploring Milwaukee began along the Milwaukee River, and I would go bird watching, looking for ducks like Goldeneyes and Buffleheads. And I was just amazed that these things even existed. Now that I live over on the west side, I tour the nature center, Hawthorne Glen, literally footsteps from my house, and I take my sketchbook and I just draw things that I see. It's so funny when you go to explore nature, because I might be out on a search to draw a Blue jay, but when you go on a walk, you end up discovering all these other different insects and plants. It's really amazing what you can find.
I want to talk about the details of each tile — it’s so intricate, yet cohesive. Can you walk me through your process of sculpting and glazing each tile?
My process is called faience tile, which refers to a specific type of tile made with wet clay. A lot of tiles are made with a blank, and you hand-paint the design on them. Other tiles are dust-pressed, whereas mine are formed in wet plastic clay. From there, I carve designs, and I'll make a plaster mold of those so that I can reproduce those designs various times. There is no shortage of mistakes in tile making, so this is one technique that tile makers use to create more results. Once the tiles are fired in a kiln, I hand-paint the designs on them, and some tiles, specifically the more detailed tiles, I'll put five to six different glazes on one tile. So these tiles can take a couple of hours or more to glaze, and usually I'll glaze about 20 at a time. So I'll be doing that for a couple of days or more when I work on a batch.
The work that is shown at Birds and Blooms, I started in January, and then I really labored all summer on it. But [the collection of tiles] really represents when I started designing tiles in 2018 — that's when I created the Trillium tile. So the work technically goes back to those years.
You've been an artist for years and have been making tiles for people's homes for a while. What made you decide to publicly exhibit your work for the first time?
I want to thank Adam Beadel, the director at the Grove Gallery, because he encouraged me to present the tiles that are at Birds and Blooms — it was a lot of work, so it took a lot of encouragement. This was a really nice opportunity to explore different themes and tiles that are always in my head. There's never a shortage of ideas going on [in my mind], but to have the opportunity to work on that and showcase it was very rewarding. It also gives a chance for patrons and clients to see a wider range of what I'm capable of creating with tile.
What do you hope visitors take away from seeing your art tiles?
When people go to the show, I really hope they feel encouraged to go explore the natural wonders that are at our doorstep. Like I said, Hawthorne Glen is just steps away from my house, and in Milwaukee, we have lots of parks that we can go to. And time flies, so when we make habits of going to the park often, we get to see those little surprises that are there all the time. The butterflies on the flowers, the little birds making noise in the trees. This brings us everlasting joy. So I hope when people go, I hope they enjoy the art, but I really hope that they feel inspired to explore the world around them, too.
You can see the “Birds and Blooms” art show on Saturdays from 12-4 p.m. at the Grove Gallery in Walker’s Point. There will also be a Gallery Night on Friday, October 17 from 5-9 p.m., and the show’s last day will be on Saturday, October 18 from 12-5 p.m.
