Contemporary Tilemaker: Hilke MacIntyre

Article in ‘Glazed Expressions’, the Magazine of the Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society, autumn 2023

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Ceramic workshop ( in German)

Hilke MacIntyre is a contemporary artist working in printmaking, painting and ceramics. Her simplified figurative style shows her enjoyment of colour, pattern, bold shapes, nature and daily life on the Scottish East Coast. Main influences are indigenous/folk art and art & design movements in the 20th century. The direct visual impact of a handmade piece is essential in her art.

Hilke was born in Germany near the Danish border and studied architecture at the College for Art & Design in Kiel. After a few years working for architects in Germany and Britain, she moved to Scotland in 1995. There she started printmaking at the Edinburgh Printmakers alongside painting and experimenting with pictures in clay from which her ceramic reliefs developed. Since then she has practiced as a professional artist and currently lives and works in rural Fife near St Andrews.

Her work is widely exhibited in galleries throughout Britain and her woodcuts and linocuts have been used for numerous illustrations.

Information about ceramic reliefs

I carve the original design into hardened clay with a kitchen knife and various carving tools. This original relief is then cast in plaster, producing a plaster mould with which I can make editions of 50 copies of each design. For each new copy, a slab of soft clay is pressed into the mould to get an almost identical relief. This relief is then finished by hand, carefully dried, fired for a first time, hand glazed and fired again at a higher temperature close to stoneware. The glazing is a very important part of the process. For every design I need a few (or more…) glazing trials before I get the result I am happy with. I use a variety of ready made glazes available from pottery supplies which I then mix to obtain a certain shade or quality of colour. All ceramics are signed and have an edition number. There is a recessed hole in the back for hanging on a nail or a screw. It is recommended to fix them to the wall with a bit of Blu Tack as well. The ceramic reliefs are lightfast and frostproof and suitable for outside display.

More reading: ‘Contemporary Tilemaker: Hilke MacIntyre’, article in ‘Glazed Expressions’ 2023

“Reliefs are an ancient sculpture technique in which the figures and objects project from a solid background. In my reliefs the volume is not cut to its full extent and small variations in depth register as 3-dimensional, an interesting illusion to work with. Creating the carved-out space in between figures or objects interests me just as much as designing the figure itself. Adding pattern produces a tactile surface, which I enjoy and which is a great base for beautiful glazing effects. Each glazing has its own qualities. That opens a wide field for experimenting, like having glossy beside matt areas, thick layering beside a transparent use of the glaze, or rubbing some glazing off to let the clay come through. As well, glazing is never fully predictable, which – on the positive side – keeps opening the kiln after a high firing exciting and makes each relief slightly different from the other.”

Information about Linocuts and Woodcuts

My linocuts are original prints. I print the linocuts and woodcuts directly from the carved plates on an old cast iron Harrild Press in my studio in Arncroach using Lawrence oil based high quality inks and acid free Zerkall printmaking paper. Because the inking and pressing of the plates is done by hand, every single print differs slightly from the others of that edition. I usually print in editions of 35 or 50. All prints are signed and have an edition number.

Multiple colour prints can be made in various ways. The quickest one is to ink one block in different colours at the same time but this method has its limitations. More possibilities offer single-block or multiple-block printing. For single-block printing one block is printed in one colour, then areas of this block are cut away before printing the next colour(s) with the same block. For multiple-block printing a separate block is cut for each different colour layer.

Below are the stages of the printmaking process of a combined linocut and woodcut “Orange Farm near Valencia’. I am using a linoleum plate for the first orange layer because linocutting allows more detail and a woodcut on Japanese plywood for the second black layer, which has a rougher feel to it and adds a grainy pattern to the image.

“Linocutting and woodcutting are my preferred printmaking technique as they are direct and hands on. Whereas relief printing offers possibilities for very refined and multicoloured designs I keep it simple and enjoy the task of designing with reduced elements and only a few colours. I like a slight roughness of the cut line and enjoy working rather spontaneously than carefully when carving the block. The resulting ‘mistakes’ can either add to the design or need to be carefully touched up on each print during the printing process. Working through the stages from first sketch to printing the edition is an interesting journey.“