Your Incredible Neighbors: Mosaic tile artist receives recognition

In a little over two months, Fran Walker has gone from being a beginner to being a sought-after mosaic tile artist.

Transforming ordinary terracotta flower pots into ones with carefully chosen, cut and placed tiles her mosaic masterpieces were a big hit at a recent show held by Quail Creek artists and crafters.

“I sold everything I had; I was hopeful but didn’t know what to expect. So I took orders that will keep me busy right through Christmas,” she said.

Her first foray into mosaic tiling was covering the tops of two patio tables. After a neighbor shared techniques, Walker went to Tucson searching for tiles.

“Things have to ‘speak’ to me; I couldn’t find what I wanted but on a trip to California I found slate, granite and travertine and had the tiles shipped home,” she said.

Though mosaic tiling may look unplanned and a finished work may look like pieces fell into place by happenstance Walker picks her tiles and places them carefully, cuts them with the skill of someone who’s been doing it for decades and measures the distance between cut tiles so grouted areas will be uniform.

Methodical as she is the finished piece is artfully done; to those with a fine eye for detail it’s top-of-the-line mosaic tiling.

Asked when she realized that her work was exceptional Walker said, “When people started telling me after my first two pots. I kept hearing ‘Oh, my goodness.’ Now I’m making some for people who won’t be using them as planters but as pieces of art.”

Each piece she does takes her in a new direction.

“I’m moving from all tile to tile and stone and beyond pots to tables,” she said. “I’m planning to do a petroglyph tile pot mixed with slate and have several combos for stone and tile tables in mind including one with Native American designs with three colors of granite on a square-sided pot.”

When her garage workshop was too hot to work in this summer, Walker moved her tools of the trade to her back patio, which overlooks the new tee box of the third nine of a new golf course, which is set to open in 2008.

“I have a studio with a view,” she says jokingly.

Mosaic tiling isn’t the first serious arts or crafts project Walker has taken on. When she and her husband Sam lived in southern California they transformed the plain glass windows across the front of their home into leaded glass windows, a project that took them four years to complete.

Doing mosaic tiling on terracotta pots one at a time may be less daunting than multiple windows but Walker works with the same precise attention to detail. She has her process down pat ensuring that each finished piece will be what buyers consider works of art.

The process is time consuming. First she seals the surfaces that will remain exposed — the inside and the bottom of a pot — to prevent moisture from ever seeping into the grout.

Next, she marks the placement of two inch square tiles on the rim.

“I like everything to look balanced and proportional. Then I take mortar and start setting the tile. The challenge is putting straight or flat pieces onto a curved pot.

“Once the rim is done I can flip the pot and do the main part,” she explained.

When it looked like this was going to be a serious pastime Walker’s husband surprised her in September with two totally unromantic but treasured birthday presents—a wet saw and a wet/dry tile grinder. She said she was ecstatic.

Demonstrating how the wet/dry grinder works she took a piece of glazed tile that had raw edges after being cut. Then ever so carefully Walker sanded the edges making them look smooth and even and ready to be applied to a pot.

How long does it take her to complete a pot from start to finish? “Including drying and curing, eight days,” she said. “I’ll do two pots at a time and work on one while the other is drying. Setting the tile on a 10- or 12-inch pot takes two days,” she said.

Although she’s being encouraged to sell retail Walker hasn’t decided to go in that direction.

“I’m not into doing mass quantities,” she said. “I want each piece to be totally unique. I’m an artist.”

Ellen Sussman is a Green Valley freelance artist. Contact her at ellen2414@cox.net.