Mary Kuilema Bio
Cascade Township, Michigan is the setting for Mary Kuilema's home and studio. She has been working in clay for the last 30 years, initially as a potter and more recently in tile production and design. Her tile is influenced by the beauty of the Michigan woodlands and is indebted to the tile of the arts and crafts movement as well as historic Dutch and German tile which elevated everyday events and common sights to the level of art.
Just as each new wave of art tile design is a reflection of its own culture and society while building on the vast repertoire of historic tile, so the current resurgence of handmade tile is due, in part, to a society which values the beauty and fragile nature of our environment while encouraging the production of hand-made artwork. The task of the artist is to help us see and celebrate what is all around us.
Clay and tile, especially, is a wonderful medium for tactile experience. The bas relief images with matte glazes interact with light to cast subtle shadows, enhancing the textures and colors of the tile. The matte glaze flows and pools slightly during the hottest part of the firing process, creating its own textures and crystals which reflect light. Each firing contains tests of new glazes, a continual search for color variation through glaze application and firing temperature. And the finished tile offers limitless opportunity for creativity in installation; pattern and design come together in architectural elements and fireplace surrounds, kitchens and bathrooms. Extruded ceramic moldings, custom field tile and metallic glaze accents work together to make a beautiful architectural statement.
Mary Kuilema Resume'
Architectural Installations:
Tile Murals:
Fair Housing Center, (NGO) Grand Rapids, MI, donor recognition wall 2007- ongoing
Cherry street Health Services, (NGO) donor recognition wall, 2005 - 2007
South End Community Outreach ministries, donor recognition wall, 2005 -2007
Outdoor tile mosaic wall, as artist in residence with Unity High School,
Lowell Riverwalk, Lowell MI, 2005
Girl Scouts/Michigan Trails Donor recognition wall, Camp Anna Behrens, Greenville MI 2005
Donor recognition frieze,Wittenbach Agri-science Center, Lowell Area Schools. MI. 2004
Classroom Designation, Knapp Forest Elementary, Forest Hills Schools, Gr Rapids MI, 2003
Kuilema Pottery, home and studio: installations of bathrooms, fireplace, kitchen, floors as well
as insets in cement porch and sidewalk, stair risers, 1995-ongoing.
Art-Deco style donor recognition wall, Home Repair Services, Grand Rapids, MI ,2000
Outdoor Head Start mural, Grace Christian Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, MI 1998
Outdoor Frog Frieze, Cedar Springs, MI, 1997
Fireplaces:
Cooper fireplace, Kalamazoo, MI;
Pastoor/Jansens, 2 fireplaces, Grand Rapids MI;
Walker fireplace, Grand Rapids MI;
Hock fireplace, Ann Arbor MI;
Kresock fireplace, Rochester, NY;
Caston fireplace, Grand Rapids, MI;
Kovack Fireplace, Schoolcraft, MI;
Kuilema fireplace, Lowell, MI;
Bell Fireplace, New Buffalo, MI.
Rossler Fireplace, Rochester Hills, MI.
Publications:
“Architectural Ceramics” by Peter King, fireplace illustration, Lark Books, 1999.
Lark Books, “500 Tiles,” edited by Angelica Pozo, 2008
Workshops, Seminars:
Tile Heritage Seminars and exhibition; Erie, Ohio, 1999.
Tile Heritage Conference and Workshop; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1998;
Functional Ceramics Workshop; Wooster, Ohio, 1997, 1996
Public Art Installations Workshop; Cleveland Institute of Arts, Cleveland Ohio, 1996;
Peter King, Architectural Ceramics Workshop; Pensacola, Florida, 1995;
National Conference for education in Ceramic Arts, 1999, 2004
Annual Art Shows:
Pewabic Tile Invitationals: Winter & Summer Shows in Bloomfield Hills, Grosse Pointe, MI
Tile Heritage Foundation Invitationals: Doylestown PA, & Erie, Pennsylvania
West Michigan Potters Guild Spring and Fall Shows, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Handmade Tile Association: invitational exhibition, Minneapolis, MN
South Haven Art Show, South Haven, Michigan
GrandValley Artists: Clothesline Art Fair, Art On the Grand, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts/ Bronson Park Art Show, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Royal Oak Clay and Glass Invitational, Royal Oak, Michigan
Suttons Bay Art Show, Suttons Bay, Michigan
Traverse City Outdoor Art Show, Traverse City, Michigan
Fallasburg Fall Festival, Lowell, Michigan
Professional Associations:
West Michigan Potters Guild, ’83-’06; board, secretary, president, fall show chairperson
Tile Heritage Foundation, ‘96-’07
Lowell Area Arts Council, ‘99-’07
Artist in Residence at Kelloggsville Public Schools, January, 2000, 2002
Instructor: Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, fall, 2003, 2004
Artist in Residence, Unity Alternative high school, Lowell, Mi 2005
Gallery Representation:
Khnemu Studio, Allegan, MI
Gallery 154, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Whistling Moose Gallery, Petoskey, Michigan
Suncoast Tile, Largo Florida
Eagle Tile and Marble, Eagle, Pennsylvania
Once Upon a Tile, Fitchburg, Massachusetts
Structures International, Nisswa, Minnesota
Take Me Home, Palos Heights, IL
Ruth Conklin Gallery, Glen Arbor MI
References: Provided on request.
Background: 1979-present: self-employed; designing, producing and marketing functional pottery and tile.