Ceramic Tiles | Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon

Mural of Shakespeare's Stratford

In 1981 architect Laurence Williams, thought that Christina's tiles might be the ideal medium to give colour and special interest to part of the new Visitors' Centre

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"I was delighted to receive a commission from The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, a wonderful Organisation that promotes Shakespeare worldwide. In the mural, I set out to show the town in Shakespeare's time in all its bustling activity, as well as presenting the town’s famous buildings. Each tile shows an activity such as brewing, or rat-catching, Lords and Ladies walking together, as well as ordinary everyday tasks. I wanted the mural to amuse, invite & inform and to show how much poetry can be found in the most ordinary of things."
Christina Sheppard 23rd of April 2017.

Tiles

At her workshop Christina made pottery and decorative tiles in several styles, with the most distinctive using the sgraffito technique.

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Her style is original, she uses both brush stroke and the sgraffito technique, in this way she was able to transform landscape design onto a ceramic tile or bowl. Christina says "The technique is very simple. After glazing the tile, you scratch through the glaze to the background tile, creating your linear design. You then apply other glazes to emphasise the whole and the tile is then fired in a kiln".

As Christina's tiles are handmade, the effects of the colours and designs are never exact and therefore each one is a true original. she says “The inability to get an exact result means this often results in pleasing unexpected or not so pleasing outcomes in the ceramic medium. Work can be lost in the firing process and then this means often a day’s work has gone to waste and you have to start again from scratch!”