At Raven Barn Studio, we (Margaret Corbit and Wes Blauvelt) create handmade tiles with unique designs and shapes, and mosaics using several techniques. Come see our shower enclosure, “Chickens We Have Known and Loved!”
Margaret Corbit: I try to capture the gestalt of a creature, a petal, or a moment in my designs, and have been drawing from nature since I was 3. There is always a sketchbook in my backpack. Clay came into my life in 2009. Wes gave me a workshop at Philadelphia’s Magic Garden for Christmas in 2012 and I gave him one right back. The rest is history! We founded Raven Barn Studio in 2014. We are also part of the City of Ithaca 1st Street Mosaic Project and have coordinated student/teacher mosaic murals at Enfield and Caroline Elementary Schools.
Wes Blauvelt: With no formal art training, my personal art interests focus on mosaics and tilemaking. I have participated in several installations of urban art mosaics at Philadelphia’s Magic Garden under the direction of Isaiah Zagar and in public mosaic projects in the Ithaca area using Zagar’s techniques. Most recently, I have studied the tile making techniques employed of the Moravian Tile Works, the unique glass stacking and mirror substrate techniques of mosaic artist Kelley Knickerbocker, and Japanese anagama wood kiln firing. Together these techniques, along with my passion for all things bird, inform my tile design and mosaics.