Ceramic Tile Paintings

Lisa Shinault is an Atlanta-based artist who creates ceramic tile paintings.  Her tile paintings are often made up of three or more 4" X 4" kiln-fired and grouted tiles, which can also be installed for kitchen or bathroom wall interiors.  Lisa trained professionally in the early 90's with ceramic tile mural artists known for their high-end, large-scale backsplashes depicting botanicals and decorative displays.  Great attention to sophisticated color and detail is evident in her tile paintings, which are figuratively iconic with a fanciful quality.  Some of her works involve  mosaic details, however more emphasis is concentrated on painted figures.  With commission, Lisa works meticulously with the client to produce elegant and original artworks fulfilled in her individual style.  Her background includes  teaching ceramic tile painting workshops for Atlanta College of Art, visual merchandising for Sax Fifth Avenue (Atlanta), scenic painting for the Alliance Theatre, as well as working for decorative painting studios.  She was awarded "Excellence In Painting" from the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she earned her BFA.  Lisa’s work is   in an ever-growing number of art collections including “King and Spalding” and Art Papers senior editor, Jerry Cullum.

"I spent most of my childhood painting with oil on canvas.  It was not until I finished art school, and began working for a custom tile mural company, that I realized my appreciation for painted tiles.  The challenge of the changing colors after being fired, along with the glossy glazed surface wet my appetite for more.  Because I was totally smitten with painting tiles, I acquired a small kiln, and began making small tile paintings depicting ‘little ladies’.  This subject matter often appeared in a much larger scale in the oil on canvas paintings I had in my studio.  Most of the commissions I am asked to create are on ceramic tile, and in many cases I also bring in the elements of mosaic to selected works.  I strive to depict women with strength and grace…and can’t leave out a bit of the unexpected, or in some cases, the extremely expected, since most of my work contains ongoing symbols such as a duck, or a ‘certain’ pair of white shoes.  They are all little ‘stories’ in their own way."

 

--Lisa Shinault