The Vashon Tile Guild is an association of tile and mosaic makers, designers, and installers. From its inception the Guild has envisioned public works as one of it principal raison d’etre. After working together on a number of park and school projects we started to take a hard look at our home community and the creative juices started flowing.

Thus the TILE VASHON PROJECT was born.

Tiles have been an integral part of building design, interior and exterior, for literally thousands of years. The town of Avalon on Catalina Island reveals what a contemporary small town looks and feels like when embellished with tilework on storefronts and interiors, street furniture, benches, signs, retaining walls, ramps, stair risers, house numbers, columns, planter boxes and so on. Vashon has some homegrown art tile work in and around town but one would hardly guess that Vashon is an island full of artists by the looks of its downtown. After surveying the community and taking photos of buildings the Guild members drew up a list of sites suitable for embellishment. We agreed that on any given project one artist would be the lead and the project would reflect that artist’s vision. This was not to be art by committee. The other Guild members act as support staff. On the “do-ability scale” Bob’s Bakery was at the top. Clare Dohna volunteered to be lead artist and both the owner of the building and the tenant baker were enthusiastic and supportive. Thus the Bob’s Bakery Project was launched.

The plan is to cover the entire facade of the building housing the bakery with Clare’s tiles in the forms of baked goods and to add a new tile sign. Although most of the labor for this project will be donated by Guild members, a significant amount of money must be raised to cover materials and expenses and Clare must receive fair compensation for her tile production. We will know that the Vashon “public” appreciates and supports this kind of public art when they contribute the funds to make it happen.

In a way we are turning the usual paradigm for public art on its head. The usual process is that a committee of mostly people who are not artists determine the need for a project to be installed at a particular site. The committee puts out a call and artists respond with a proposal. The selected project is funded and tweaked by the committee. Public input, if any, may take the form of a public meeting or two or a working session with children making some tiles. Our approach starts with the artists looking at their community and proposing a specific art project that will make the community a more beautiful, more vibrant place. Now, we, the artists go directly to the community and ask for help in funding the project. No committees. No pre-ordained specs. No contrived “public input”.

The major goal of the Tile Tour being organized by the Tile Guild for May 2 & 3, 2009 is to raise money to kick start the Bob’s Bakery Project. On display in the Bakery will be a mock up board and drawings illustrating the plan. A Gingerbread House donation box will gladly accept monetary input as well as suggestions from the community for their favorite treats from Bob’s that they would like to have made into tiles on the wall. Please submit your ideas along with your name and a dollar. We will consider all suggestions.