Tickle's Heraldic Panels Part of Historical Middle Temple Hall in London
Derick Tickle does some detail work on one of the heraldic shields he provides for display in London's Middle Temple Hall.
Few people can boast of having a one-of-a-kind job. Fewer still can honestly say that their work will be appreciated and even held in historical significance hundreds of years from now. But Derick Tickle, Painting and Decorative Restoration Instructor, can stake claim to both statements.
Since 1981, Tickle has been the sole artisan used to create decorative heraldic panels displayed along the hallowed halls of Middle Temple Hall in London. Middle Temple Hall, which stands near the House of Parliament, has been an important hub in the study, practice and discussion of law for more than 400 years. The panels, comprised of a coat of arms and a legal history written in Latin, are commissioned to honor high-ranking Law Lords. The tradition of creating the panels began in the late 1500s, and hundreds upon hundreds of the pieces adorn the walls of the Hall.
"One of the main reasons I really enjoy doing this is because it's a part of history," said Tickle, who first became involved in the project when he lived in Guilford, England, and the artist in charge of creating the coats of arms needed help with the legal history lettering.
When that artist accepted a new job and was unable to continue devoting time to the task, Tickle took over the entire project. Since then, he estimates he has completed more than 100 of the historic shields.
"I complete on average four or five shields a year," said Tickle, whose panels made a cameo in the movie 'Shakespeare in Love.' "There is a scene toward the beginning of the film when the Queen summons Shakespeare to her throne, and my shields are in the background."
Each panel, which measures roughly 12x14 inches, takes between 32 and 40 hours to complete, depending upon the amount of detail required.
One of the most detailed pieces Tickle has created was a panel for Geoffrey Howe, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's longest-standing Cabinet minister.
"That shield took about 18 months to complete, because of the intricate detail of the piece and all of the waiting between his proposed changes to the coat of arms," said Tickle, who explained that coats of arms in England are regulated and that all changes need to be approved by the Queen through the Royal College of Arms.
Although the elements comprising a coat of arms are tightly regulated, Tickle is granted ample artistic license in creating the panels.
"I need to follow the rules of heraldry as far as the appropriate use of the symbols," said Tickle. "But I can be fairly creative within those realms. I pretty much manufacture the whole thing myself. I'm sent a type-written description of what they want, plus a photocopy of the coat of arms, and then I go to work designing."
After his sketches are approved, Tickle begins work on the panels, which have a very dark green, almost black, background and are guilded in 23-karat gold. Once completed, Tickle labels the back of each piece with his artist's information and then ships them off to London.
On one of the occasions when Tickle hand-delivered some shields, he was presented the opportunity to fulfill an even more regal task inscribing the soft leather cover of a photo album being presented to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in honor of her 100th birthday.
"That was totally unexpected," said Tickle, who happened to have brushes and supplies in his car. "And I'm glad that it was spontaneous, because if I had known ahead of time I probably would have worried myself too much about it," he said with a laugh.
Tickle plans to continue his work on the shields "as long as my eyes are good enough to do it," but he already has a possible candidate in mind to inherit the job, his son, Paul, who is a Decorative Restoration program graduate.
"My son would love to do them," stated Tickle. "But he needs some more training in the finer details."
At least it shouldn't be too hard for Paul to schedule some tutoring time with the current expert.
Grant Allows College to Study Energy-Efficient Water Heater
A $420,000 grant from Oak Ridge National Laboratory will enable A-B Tech and Western Carolina University (WCU) to work with an Etowah manufacturing company to create a prototype of a new type of energy-efficient water heater.
Through the project, faculty and students from A-B Tech and WCU will take existing knowledge and technology from Oak Ridge engineers, refine it and develop a new control system that combines elements of a home dehumidifier and water heater to achieve up to 25 percent savings in energy use.
"It's really pretty simple," said Aaron Ball, associate professor of engineering technology at Western. "There are two byproducts of a dehumidifier moisture and heat. The system we'll be testing uses the heat generated by a dehumidifier as energy to heat the water in a water heater."
While project partners say they are excited about the potential development of a more energy-efficient water heating and dehumidification unit, they also say the most significant aspect of the project is the possibility of retaining and creating more manufacturing jobs.
"The two most important missions of the community college system are to facilitate local economic development and to provide workforce education," said Dr. Robert Anderson, Dean of Engineering and Applied Technology at A-B Tech. "The Oak Ridge project gives A-B Tech a wonderful opportunity to help bring manufacturing jobs to Western North Carolina and involve our students in a sophisticated real-world project at the same time."
If testing determines the system is a marketable product, American Carolina Stamping in Etowah would begin manufacturing the control systems and ship them to a major water heater manufacturing company, said Steve McNabb, president of American Carolina Stamping.
Holm Sweet Holm
Officials from A-B Tech and European manufacturer Jacob Holm Industries celebrate the July 13 announcement of Jacob Holm's decision to build a $40 million high-tech manufacturing facility near the college's Enka Site. The plant will be Buncombe County's first new factory in nearly a decade and Jacob Holm's first facility outside Europe. The company plans to hire 70 employees to manufacture nonwoven fabric used for baby wipes and medical gowns, and A-B Tech will provide training for its workforce. Pictured left to right are: Ken O'Connor, A-B Tech's Director of Focused Industrial and New and Expanding Industry Training; A-B Tech President K. Ray Bailey; Michael Norboge, sales manager for Jacob Holm; Mike McCarthy, A-B Tech's Executive Director of Corporate and Economic Development; and Max Queen, the college's Vice President of Continuing Education.
Student's Art on Display at LRC
Graduate Haruka Shikauchi, whose art is on display at the LRC, stands next to one of her paintings in the exhibit.
Decorative Painting and Restoration graduate Haruka Shikauchi is the featured artist for the latest LRC art exhibit, which runs through Sept. 8.
Shikauchi came to the United States from Japan in 2002 and completed her studies at A-B Tech last year. She will enroll in the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem in September, majoring in Film Making and Production Design. Shikauchi, who is interested in creating set designs for stage, television and movies, hopes to return to Japan to use her training in the entertainment industry.
The LRC exhibit contains about 30 pieces of Shikauchi's artwork in a variety of media, including acrylics and oil painting, water color, crayon, pencil and marbleized wooden boxes demonstrating her decorative painting skills. Subject matter ranges from landscapes to portraits, floral motifs and ordinary everyday objects in attractive still lifes.