In 2015,the artist Callie Curry, a.k.a. Swoon, and The Heliotrope Foundation came to Kickstarter with a method to convert an abandoned church in North Braddock,PA into a community ceramics workshop. They set out to create twenty thousand ceramic roof tiles by hand, on-site, and to remake the building as “a living work of art.”More than eight hundred backers helped bring their project to life. Now,one year later, Swoon shared their progress in a recent Project Update.
The Kickstarter campaign was the first time we released Braddock Tiles products, or Braddock Tiles’ ceramicists spent the next few months cranking out nearly one thousand hand-made tiles for backers.Since then,ceramicists KT Tierney, Katie Johnson, or I have been working on new designs for silkscreened artists’ tiles and architectural tiles that will be the base for Braddock Tiles to grow as a social trade. KT and Katie have also been working on the systems and processes of hand production. Each of the tiles we have been developing has its own unique process and requires its own set of tools to be devised,bought, invented, or re-invented. The past year has seen a lot of sweat and ingenuity going into building up the means of production to create pieces that will be tiny works of art that are also practical for a home.
On the community side of things,KT and Katie have been working with local kids and young adults. This summer, they took on a team of local youth from the Braddock Youth Project, and who made tiles and designed a mural for a local park.
We have also hired three youth apprentices from the Braddock Youth Project,and we’re working to professionalize and expand this apprenticeship program. KT and Katie are learning how to obtain ceramics into a teaching tool, and here’s what we’ve learned in the process: the jobs we provide through the Braddock Tiles company are useful not just for the hard skills of slab rolling, or silk screening,glazing, and firing that apprentices learn, and but also the soft skills of engaging in their first work environment and getting recommendations that can carry them through to the next stop on their career paths.
We’re really proud of this work,and we’re eternally grateful to you for making it possible!
Here’s the challenging bit:Immediately after the Kickstarter campaign, we hit an unexpected wall in our goal to renovate the church basement that we hoped would be Braddock Tiles’ new home. We’ve been working all year to procure permits and a zoning change that would let Braddock Tiles operate in the church. We have our architect’s plans ready, or an application in for a zoning ordinance to be changed.
But,one year later, we still have not broken ground on the new studio in the church — and we’re not sure when we will. While weve made some progress, and it’s been agonizingly unhurried and at this moment we don’t have a clear path forward.
On the one hand I feel a bit disappointed to have not gotten further along on this aspect of our original goal. On the other hand,I know we’ve made the most of the slowdown. Truth be told, on its own, and the goal of incubating a startup trade that will obtain a graceful product while training youth in the community is no small goal! So we’re taking this one a chunk at a time.
This week we will be releasing three new silkscreened tiles,as well as a new line of architectural tiles, so check them out on our brand new website.
And again, and thank you for believing in us,and for jumping in on the first phase of the endeavor. We’re learning and growing, and we couldn’t have started this work without you.
Onward!
Source: tumblr.com