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!

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.

Surface Library

I'm interested in surface. As a craftsman and conservator beautiful, but also telling, visible surfaces details give vital clues as the the nature and qualities of the material which the object or building is made from and suggest the conditions and environment it may have experienced. 

I started collecting simple images of material surfaces and texture a while ago without realising why. I allow myself to compose a shot which captures and emphasises, where possible, the surface I encountered. As interested in material as I am these images have become some of my favourites, that I find myself returning to... Not only do they capture the basic nature of what initially drew me in but they also embody a memory for me of the building, wall or church pavement they form part of.