This article was published in our Spring Newsletter. You can find the fully formatted PDF version here.
Designed in part to raise awareness of the important work of WWHT, the project was inspired by Hildson’s own journey to homeownership. And to experience the full impact of the art, one first needs to know Teta’s story.
“I’ve lived in this area since 1978,” she explains. “As I approached my late 40s in 2009, I knew I really wanted to own a home. I had a perfectly good job, but still didn’t make enough money to buy a house anywhere. I was aware of the Housing Trust, but made a lot of assumptions – like because I had a regular income I wouldn’t qualify. I also assumed that they would have a years-long wait list. I was really getting ready to pull myself out of this area after so many years, because the need was so strong.”
Acting on a suggestion from her bank’s mortgage officer, Teta looked at the WWHT website and saw a home that was listed as part of their Shared Equity Homeownership program. Still doubtful, she contacted the Homeownership Center and started the application process.
“Then everything just fell into place,” she says. “I closed on that house at the end of 2009. This was a remarkable landmark in my life. What it did for my spirit was, I think, part of the rest of my story. I eventually decided I was going to do something during this next stretch of my productive life that I really cared about.”
And so, in 2018, Teta co-founded Wheelhouse Clay Center in downtown Brattleboro, where she spends her creative time both making and teaching pottery. It was here, at a donor event for WWHT, that the Tile Project began.
“We held the event in Teta’s studio because we wanted to let the folks who contributed to the organization really experience the impact of homeownership,” says Marion Major, Outreach Coordinator for WWHT. “We wanted to show how the Shared Equity program enabled Teta to take root in the town of Brattleboro, become a business co-owner, and then give back in this most meaningful way.”
At this first event, Teta provided some wet tiles along with a basket of impression-makers for people to choose from. She gave a simple directive to do anything in the theme of “Home.”
“That single word gave everyone enough to get going,” she says.
A second event was held at the Snow Block, where residents, neighbors, staff, family and friends put their stamp on more tiles. WWHT’s 35th Anniversary Block Party brought another opportunity for participation from WWHT staff, board members (both past and present), more residents and other community members in attendance.
“This is just a wonderful, wonderful project that everyone enjoys participating in,” says Marion. “I really love how it crosses the entire community, and it’s a nice light touch on how housing is community development in a really organic kind of way. Once we put all these beautiful pieces together, everyone can interact and enjoy and think about what home means to them.”
The journey to a completed tile is a multi-step process, beginning with an impression on a wet tile. Once the initial design is there, the tile goes back to Teta to fire and glaze. Then, the tile goes back out to the community, where even more folks are engaged to paint the tiles.
Elena Luring is the SASH For All Coordinator for WWHT, and has been instrumental in guiding participation during this phase of the process.
“I would bring tiles to staff members, or to open community room hours, and just encourage people to paint,” she says. “Each person picks out a tile, and paints it the way they interpret it, so each tile is really the work of several people, which is so interesting. It was wonderful, to see each person leaving their thumbprint on things, not worrying about doing it right or wrong, just enjoying it.”
Elena was struck by the amount of care that people put into their participation. “It was really touching,” she noted. “They were very serious about it, and had very strong feelings about having a home.”
After the tiles are painted, they are once again returned to Teta for a final coat of clear glaze and one last firing. “The tiles that are coming out are more beautiful than I ever imagined,” she says.
“Each tile has its own story connected to it, which is super special,” says Marion. She describes one of her favorite pieces. “One of our residents lives on Canal Street and he always feeds the birds. He took a feather from one of the birds that he’s friends with, and he made an impression. It’s gorgeous. It looks just like this beautiful, simple feather, but it’s actually a wonderful connection of this person and his story.”
The Tile Project that that began just a year ago is now nearing completion. The vision is to install it on the outside of the Snow Block in downtown Brattleboro. The number of tiles, 35, was determined primarily because the project began during WWHT’s 35th year. It’s also the right number, says Teta, for a public installation.
“I love public art,” says Teta. “It makes me stop and look. It’s something we don’t have enough of in Brattleboro.”
Teta also hopes the Tile Project might help raise awareness for the Housing Trust. “I still feel great about my experience. What I learned is that the Housing Trust is for people like me. We have steady jobs, we’re reliable, we have incomes, but we’re out of the regular marketplace. ”
It is the hope of all of the project organizers that the central theme of “Home” resonates with everyone who views the installation.
“I hope people connect with it,” says Elena. “I hope they have the same warm feelings I do when I see these tiles, just the wonderful feelings that people put into their tiles, about having a home, about being home, about feeling at home.”
Teta herself has a tile in the display that was one of the first to be completed. It sums up the Tile Project with a simple, sincere sentiment. It says, “I love my home, I love my house, I love my neighbors.”
