Ravenstone Tiles is a small art tile company located in the victorian seaport of Port Townsend, Washington. Owner and artist Laura Reutter began making and designing ceramic tiles in 1998. Taking inspiration from early art pottery companies such as Moravian, Rookwood, Newcomb and Grueby, her designs depict nature, with elements of Art Nouveau as well as Arts & Crafts aesthetic.
see more examples of Ravenstone work in our ceramics photo album
Many communities throughout the Bay Area hold an “open studio” weekend (or week, or, in the case of this month-long 29th annual event in San Francisco, month!), where a large number of artists – sometimes hundreds – open their workspaces to visitors. This is a great way to discover new artists and designers, and to find wonderful work at low prices. This year’s event in San Francisco will take place from 11 am to 6 pm every Saturday and Sunday throughout the month of October at more than 800 studios across the city; each weekend a new neighborhood of studios will open its doors to visitors, culminating with the huge number of open studios at the now-decommissioned Hunters’ Point Naval Shipyard.
pictured: Vince Meyer‘s Japanese-influenced tables
Building on the Arts & Craft movement of an earlier time, Guild.com is a treasure trove of current artists working in metalwork, ceramics, printmaking, painting, fiber, glass, wood, lighting, furniture and tableware.
The Arts & Crafts masters of yesteryear would have enthusiastically approved of The Guild’s Philosophy: In a nutshell, we believe that when you live with art that you love, and it’s made by a gifted artist with skill and care, it adds something rich and sweet to your life, every day.
Auctions have come a long way in the last few years. Treadway & Toomey, one of the largest of the antiques auction houses to specialize in American Arts & Crafts, has one of their largest auctions of the year coming up on September 12 at their gallery in Oak Park. The online portion of the auction is presented using technology from icollector.com and will occur live on Ebay. Over 1000 lots of furniture, artwork and other decorative items will be sold, and you can preview the lots online. As at any Treadway & Toomey auction, there are some really gorgeous items up for sale.