Diana Gillispie

EDUCATION

1978 BFA Ceramics, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri

1985 MFA Sculpture, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1978-1983 Studio, North Carolina

—Odyssey Center of the Ceramic Arts, Asheville, North Carolina

—John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, North Carolina

—Roger Williams College, Bristol, Rhode Island

—Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island

—Haywood Community College, Clyde, North Carolina

1998—Owner, Tileworks and Pottery, Asheville, North Carolina

Diana Gillispie is known for a variety of approaches to tile production.  Initially working with porcelain to reproduce Arts and Crafts inspired tile before moving on to develop her own tile designs. For a period after graduating from Rhode Island School of Design, she produced what she calls, “crazy earthenware non-functional pots”. In 1993 Gillespie produced functional wares using a majolica decorative technique. In 1996 production glazed tiles became a primary income source.

Gillespie used her interest in woodblock prints to develop a line of art relief tiles. The prototype tile is hand carved from which a plaster mold is created. Subsequent tiles are press-molded using the mold.