Brick works.
My maternal Grandfather hobby was building and operating his own ham radio. His radio ham call nickname was "Brick" because he came from a family of bricklayers. He would talk to radio ham operated around the world, day and night. This was before the internet, before mobile phones. At one stage he and other radio hams operators provided essential communication when the landline phone network failed across the country.
In my mid 20's I took a bricklaying course and eventually created retaining walls and barbecues. Just prior to renovating our second home I found myself created this series of sculptural structures from thousands of dry paper clay bricks. These works was made as a university arts student while simultaneously serving on various art organisation committees. The initial work and writing provided critical comment on a number of art education and art organisations. The work was influenced by theories of power, elites, politics, plus reflection on three and a half years as an economist working for a lobby group. |