Stack
Watershed clay, palette, milk paint, 30”w x 22.25”h x 25.25”d, 2012-2015
Stack uses the language of bricks to address a desire for permanence, the inevitability of change, and the way that the incomplete history of a place is often represented only by fragments of foundations. These “drawings” of bricks create an illusion of structure; the stack appears solid when viewed from the side, but as the viewer approaches, the negative space of the interior is revealed and the form becomes delicate and cellular, even lacy, which denies its structural and functional qualities.
This piece began at Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in response to the history of “The Factory,” the building that is currently used as the artists’ studio for the residency program. Originally constructed as a chicken barn in the 1940’s, the building was cut in half and relocated to another area of the property to serve as a brick factory before eventually becoming the ceramics studio in the 1980’s. Brickell installed part of this piece on Straw Farm at site of original barn foundation in August 2012.
