Wienerberger Brickworks

Ewhurst Residency

The brickworks sits a mile from home, in a landscape where four generations of the artist’s family have lived. The residency responded not only to the physical site but to the histories and rhythms embedded in it.

Sculptures made from reclaimed brick, gathered in the studio — Salvaged furniture on brick legs

Freshly extruded brick laid out to dry — Newly extruded brick, drying

Small stacks of perforated brick arranged across the floor — Fragments stacked across the floor

A table top balanced on a column of broken brick — A table balanced on broken brick

A folding stool propped on columns of brick — A stool propped on brick columns

A chair tipped and balanced on brick fragments — A chair tipped on brick fragments

A chair standing on legs of grey brick above wet clay — Legs of grey brick above wet clay

Chairs and tables raised on brick legs across the studio floor — The works gathered in the studio

Discarded clay, broken fired and unfired brick, and newly extruded clay were gathered over repeated visits and assembled intuitively into sculptural forms balancing weight, texture, and fragility, each keeping the evidence of its previous life.

Clay is both medium and archive here, shaped by the geology of the site and by generations of labour. Reusing what the works discarded, the sculptures trace cycles of extraction, production, and renewal, and the inseparability of family history from material history.

Year: 2017
Materials: Reclaimed clay, fired and unfired brick, newly extruded clay, salvaged furniture and timber
Disciplines: Sculpture, ceramics, material collection, site-responsive practice
Location: Wienerberger Brickworks, Ewhurst

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