Encaustic Tiles

As part of the "Art in Chichester" exhibition the Novium Museum is celebrating its 10th anniversary; my aim was to take inspiration from the collection to create an art work. I discovered Roman hypocaust tiles and several medieval encaustic tiles. These tiles have designs embedded into their surfaces. The designs, sometimes very complex, often relate to religious or heraldic subjects. The technique was lost until rediscovered in the 1820s. I decided to reinvent the encaustic method for myself. This was achieved, after many failures, by impressing various types of clay with cardboard dies and filling with a contrasting liquid coloured slip, the excess slip being scraped off later. I chose designs used in promotional material to celebrate various aspects of the "Art in Chichester" exhibition. These simple designs relate to theatre, literature, cinema, design, Pallant House Gallery, museums and the Cathedral. Some of the tiles I have left unfilled and a variety of different clays have been used. The aim was to produce the effect of a worn medieval pavement, the Victorians often replaced or copied these and many of the originals have been lost. It is interesting to speculate that my tiles may be the first to be made in Chichester by this traditional technique for over 500 years!