HOLIDAY GIFT IDEA / SOMETHING OLD AND NEW AND WORTHY

It’s never too early to plan holiday giving for the San Diego Arts & Crafts bungalow aficionado on your gift shopping list.  While they are available here is a wonderful gift idea that’s is timely for 2015 and one that is a keepsake that supports historic preservation in town.

Stephani Stephenson

Acclaimed ceramic artist Stephani Stephenson may be the best there is at reproducing Batchelder Arts & Crafts-style tile. Also a longtime SOHO supporter, she was commissioned to create 100 limited-edition bas relief tiles to commemorate the 1915 Panama-California Exposition centennial and to benefit SOHO.

The design portrays a much-loved view of Cabrillo Bridge and the California Building in colors that mysteriously vary from tile to tile. "Cabrillo Bridge is such an important part of Balboa Park," said Stephani, whose inspiration was a hand-tinted, 1915 Exposition post card. She applies clay slip coatings in greens and blues with a brush, fires the tiles, sands off some color, adds a sepia slip coat for definition, and fires again. The final step is a wax finish.

"I use the same process for all the tiles, but I swear not two of them are alike," she said. This makes each tile a unique work of art. Available at the Marston House Museum Shop, the tiles make great holiday, housewarming, and special occasion gifts, as well as handsome centennial keepsakes and future heirlooms.

SOHO Centennial Tiles

By Stephani Stephenson of Revival TileWorks

6" x 9" - $75 each

MORE ART BY STEPHANI STEPHENSON

http://revivaltileworks.com

Above: Green tower bath with ceramic fixtures, sconces, and tile (excluding subway tile) by Stephani Stephenson. Overall bathroom design and photograph by Dan Maddux Design of San Antonio, Texas

Above: Fireplace, matte glazed tile by Stephenson,
installed in Pasadena, California

Above: "Two Crows Fireplace," glazed tile, a work Stephenson designed for a home in San Diego, California. Photographs courtesy Stephani Stephenson

Above: Framed relief tile, 9" X 18" by Stephenson; wrought iron frame by Bushere & Son Iron Studio in Los Angeles, California.

Read more about Stephani Stephenson:

https://aaa.uoregon.edu/100stories/alumni/stephani-stephenson

She currently resides in St. David, Arizona, where she has her Revival Tile Works studio, where she continues with her tile, architectural ceramics and sculpture work.