About the artists

Randy and Kathy Hotchkiss are University of Arizona graduates who live close to the UofA in Tucson, Arizona. Kathy is a retired school teacher and Randy, a Tucson native is active in his mortgage banking career of 30 years. Randy and Kathy discovered their creative side and started Garden Art Tucson.

About our tiles

Garden Art Tucson started with an ugly vine in our backyard and a desire for a smaller water bill. We thought a ceramic tile mural on our patio wall where the vine had been would be a good solution. We searched the internet and browsed shops and galleries in Tucson, Tubac and Bisbee. Finding nothing we liked and discovering that everything was very expensive, we decided to try to design our own tile mural and have it made in Mexico. We sketched and provided colors so the artist would know exactly what we wanted, however, we found out we could not get what we wanted in Mexico. Since we had already done most of the work, we decided to paint the tiles and have them fired ourselves. We were given much-needed information and encouragement from many artist friends, art instructors, and people at an art store. We originally mounted the murals directly on patio walls, however, we now make rusted metal frames as an option so that they can be moved. Our backyard now looks like an art gallery and our water bill has been a pleasant surprise.

We have expanded our work to include backsplashes and other tile creations. All tiles are fired to make them waterproof, which insures they will not fade in the intense Arizona sun or be damaged by water. We welcome you to choose the tile colors as well as the design and edge tile you want. See our tile murals.

About our tables

Garden Art Tucson also makes patio tables that incorporate inlaid ceramic and Mexican tile tops on rusted metal bases. These tables are unique and much sturdier than the patio tables you find in garden shops. They can be customized with the buyer’s choice of tile and colors. The rusted metal bases, imported from Mexico, have been stabilized to halt continued rusting.

The first table we made was in response to not being able to find a table for our patio that we liked even at very expensive garden shops. We wanted something with a sturdy metal frame base. We looked at Mexican furniture garden shops and liked the metal tubular bases but Mexican ceramic tile is soft and not very durable. We use Mexican tile for accent strips on some of our tables but do not like to use it for the entire table because of the durability factor. In addition to the durability problem Mexican tile only comes in 4” tiles and is very irregular.