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So what's pressed brick then?

Let's get technical ...

Just call me Miss Terracotta...

I've have been awarded a Churchill 
Travelling Fellowship!!! 


This changes everything....

The project of my imagining is:
Architectural Terracotta: 

An exploration of Transatlantic Opportunity


105 Churchill Fellows have been selected from 942 applicants. And I'm one of them! Stunned and gratefully so.

I'm being fully funded to spend 8 weeks travelling across the UK and the USA. It's all about clay as a key material for building, understanding applications and techniques in the past and for the future.


I'll be meeting the key makers, the huge manufacturers as well as the creative independents, the architects and commissioning bodies who choose this exciting material to adorn our urban landscape with. I'm making all my own travel plans and contacts and have the doors wide open to all working in the industry in both continents.


This fantastic opportunity gives me an unique insight into the industry to understand first hand the differences in the uses of terracotta in the US compared to here. I'll be finding out about historic methods of making and how they've changed over the years. I'm also excited to learn about the innovative new techniques and what opportunities technology offer and how they change the end product and how terracotta can be applied.

I'm visiting:
Chicago - the birthplace of the skyscraper - this city is built of terracotta
New York - I'll visit all the major terracotta sites and meet the major manufactures and architectural bodies based in NYC, including Shaws of Darwen, a large UK company.
San Francisco - I'll meet independent makers and ceramicists here
Sacremento - Visit Gladding McBean - one of the largest and oldest manufacturers still in business

I’ll be posting photos and stories of what I find throughout my travels and experiences here. Save this blog. And get involved if you'd like to... please leave comments and join me on my journey….

When I arrive back, in September, I'll be arranging talks and presentations across the country to share what I've found and get everyone as exciting about terracotta as I am. 
If you would like to be involved or contribute to my research, host a presentation, or would like to be invited to any events, I’d be happy to hear from you. Please email me to register your interest: amyfrankiesmith@gmail.com

Must go, I have a travels to plan and exciting people and places to see and meet!

STOP PRESS!!

Medina baths hit the wider Brighton again press this week:

"An eyesore building will not be left to rot, according to city planners"

Sculpting Buildings

I met one of my neighbours today, Englands Ornamental Plastering...

Studio Projects

I'm getting my hands dusty with clay and plaster this week. I forget how much I love the stuff! I've got a couple of projects that have been lining up so it has felt good to get them moving... and hopefully out the door to get on with the next!

STOP PRESS!!

I'm featured in this week's Latest Homes magazine!

A published article featuring my research and photography in gives an insight into the importance and interest of Medina House is available now throughout Brighton & Hove and online.

South Bank Centre

Fantastic article in Twentieth Societies magazine by colleague on the course, Lucy Ashton.

Have a look here to read the press release published on the website.

Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale: The Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution

I just got back from my weekend of studies at Ironbridge. I would like to share some shots of the beautiful bridge itself and fill you in on the history you might be unacquainted with...

Thoughts on Financing Conservation and Cuts of 2010

I'm looking forward to Project and Disaster Management lectures at Ironbridge this weekend. I've stopped reeling from the Finance module last month.

Sunflower Seeds

And FINALLY before getting a spot of lunch and catching my train back to the coast my final stop at the Tate Modern was not to disappoint...

100 million porcelain sunflower seeds were made and hand painted in the Chinese City of Jingdezhen to lie on the Turbine Hall floor. Outstanding.

The Giant Animals and creatures of the Natural History Museum

Alfred Waterhouse's magnificent Natural History Museum:

First visit to the New Ceramics Gallery - V&A

Eventually I arrived on the 6th floor of the V&A to see the Ceramics. Its not easy to find... I'd made my way up to the 4th floor to discover the lift doesn't go any higher! So down I went, back to the Informatin Desk to get a different lift up to the lofty 6th floor!


Worth the trip, although I did wonder how many people actually make it there...

Sample of the magnificent V&A

I wandered round the Galleries not paying too close attention to which exhibits I travelled through but heading upwards to the Ceramics Gallery on the 6th floor.
Snippets along the way included an ancient 14th century staircase next to this wall of heads...
which made me chuckle!

A day at the V&A

To relax and find some space to think after my interview I headed straight for the Victoria and Albert Museum. I wandered straight into the Rennaisance gallery, struck with awe and wonder with my thoughts drifting to Italy...

I decided to sit down and write down how the interview went so I could move on from pondering the events of those 15 minutes and make space to take on the Centuries of history I was to be delighted by.

Pair of kneeling Angels

1450-1525

Probably Andrea della Robbia

The della Robbia family dominated the production of tin-glazed terracotta in Florence at this time, keeping their receipes secret.

If you look closely at where the glaze has come away from the figure, in the photo above, you'll see the buff colour of the clay and perhaps a layer of engobe that might have been applied before the tin glaze to ensure the glaze fit.

Winston Churchill Fellowship

I've been shortlisted for the Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship! Have a look here.

I’ve found the whole experience of applying for the Travelling Fellowship a very valuable one. The prospect of planning a trip (up to 3 months) to study and explore a project of one’s own defining is very exciting. I’ve loved the opportunity to dream and have become excited beyond words in imagining where I might go, who I would meet and the projects and companies I might be involved with. I’ve also found it immensely encouraging in speaking to professionals and practitioners in the field. It’s not difficult for the excitement to gain momentum when discussing a project and it’s possibilities. 

I'm sure positive projects will form out of this application experience alone. I also promise myself I will build on the positive contacts I have made and cement them for the future regardless of the Fellowship decision. I dare not wonder any further where being awarded the fellowship may take me!... for the time being back to the real world… but fingers x crossed!

IKON Gallery, Birmingham

I popped into the IKON Gallery on Sunday as we were passing. I'd forgotten what an impact the building has on me. It was built as Oozells Street School in 1887 and boasts classic terracotta detailing in quite a bright orange-red clay.

Day 3: Visit to Crab Tree House - Bay Windows

We met Lizzy at Crab Tree House, the cream house in the picture above, to discuss plans for putting bay windows into the two bedrooms at first floor level. Both windows on the ground floor are bay. The desire is to make the rooms more spacious. Paul thought it best to suspend the windows so as not to interfere with the roof, they would therefore, be window seats rather than walk in bays.
The house has a prominent aspect on the riverside and is in clear view behind the Grade I Church, as you can see from the photo. It is located within a Conservation Area and there is no visible president for 1st floor bay windows in the vicinity. Paul, with his experience in this area thought it unlikely the plans would be immediately well received by Planning and Conservation Officers.

Day 2: Lifton, St Mary's Church - Quinequennial Inspection

Pevsner's Guide lists this church as building located in an 'small and otherwise unremarkable village'. Paul and I travelled across Devon to the Cornish border, in the Mini stocked with the regular thermos of coffee and toast arriving at 10am uncertain of what we might find on arrival.

Straight up onto the roofs. The roofers were on site for us clearing the gutters, Jim and Tom were just finishing so we were guided as to the best places to gain access tot he roofs.

Up the tower we went, looking into the bell chamber and the ringing room on the way.

Musings on our urban excesses...

I'm thinking about the adaptation and reuse of redundant buildings, gap sites, regeneration and the big one SUSTAINABILITY....