Brickell Brac Origins

Simon,

I’ve been thinking about the ongoing relevance of the term Brickell Brac.

Visitors to Driving Creek would often tell Barry Brickell that his pottery was a mess. Barry would reply that it was not a mess but instead Brickell Brac. It was the remnants of interesting people doing interesting things and it was precious. 

My original idea was to take some of this Brickell Brac and present it in a gallery context, like an exhibition of shards. But when we all met onsite to see what to take it quickly became apparent that the Brickell Brac was deeply embedded physically and spiritually into Driving Creek. It seemed inauthentic and possibly fatal to try and transplant it into a gallery space. 

Through deep consideration and debate Karl and I have expanded this idea into two conceptual enquiries, 1). The original Brickell Brac. 2). The philosophy of Brickell Brac. It is in this second discovery that we feel most energised to engage with an audience. The original Brickell Brac points the way and the second encourages us to make our own mess. 

True Brickell Brac is made in situ. It is the mess and memory of creation and the dust of creators. The Brickell Brac is inherently in us and we shed it when we work together. Our Brickell Brac will be different from Barry’s but the method will be the same. With our friends, we will sweat up a mess from which an audience may wonder. 

We should probably just pin this to the wall instead of signage, 

Laurie