Tile

DEFINITION

A flat, thin piece of earthenware or terra-cotta, it is often used for both decorative and practical purposes such as covering walls, counters and floors. Hand-decorated tiles are a specialty of potters and ceramic artists. Catalina Island in California is known for decorative tiles. Sources: Ralph Mayer, "A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques"; AskART database <br><br>A slab of hard material such as baked clay or plastic, laid in rows to cover walls, floors, and roofs. It is thin, and either flat, textured or in low-relief. It may either be single or considered as a group.To tile is to cover with (or lay) tiles. In digital imaging, tiling is repeating a graphic in an all-over pattern. An artist noted for his explorations of graphic tiling was Maurits Cornelis Escher (Dutch, 1898-1972).Internet resources concerned with tile and tiling: "Chalkboard" on drawing skills. You&#39;ll find excellent graphics and text explanations on each of its pages, including: Drawing Grids and Tile Floors in one-point perspective. Chalkboard comes from the University of Evansville, IN. D&#39;Mundo Tile Inc., CA. Also see antefix, imbrication, mortar, mosaic, overlap, pique assiette (also called picassiette), plaque, slab construction, and tessellation.