By Barbara Johnson Ross, Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art   On Saturday, July 13, 2013, the Ohr O’Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi was proud to host visiting artist Sheri Marshall of Holly Springs, Mississippi for a Studio Ohr workshop. Marshall creates beautiful carved tiles featuring various species of birds.  Each student created two clay tiles and learned the correct process for carving, painting, and drying tiles.  The artistic tiles made in the workshop are suitable for framing or hanging on the wall.

Sheri Marshall is an accomplished artist, published author, and member of the Mississippi Craftsman’s Guild.  To benefit the educational programs of the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum, she generously donated her time and materials to conduct two sessions of the tile-making workshop.

The workshops were held in the ceramic studio of the recently completed City of Biloxi Center for Ceramics building at the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, featuring a state-of-the-art ceramics studio, new kilns and art classroom. Both workshops were filled to capacity with students from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, New Orleans, and Mobile, Alabama.  Attendees worked with porcelain tiles that Marshall had previously prepared, ready to be carved.  Each tile was at an optimum carving state.  Working in a reverse process, the students carved designs in the tiles that were either free form or created from images and drawings prepared in advance.  The end result was an eclectic and amazingly vast array of wonderful work.  Marshall put it best when she said, “I had no idea I was going to be teaching an entire class of artists!”

Artist Sheri Marshall instructed participants in a tile making workshop.

Participants carved these tiles with their own designs and they are ready to be fired.

A display of Sheri Marshall’s finished tiles after the firing process.