Projects may include bas (low) relief, high relief, full dimension free standing and often a combination. The brick medium has all the same characteristics of durability and low maintenance as a brick building, blends well in settings where other brick construction is present, looks good with landscaping and has a familiarity which is comforting to people.
Brick sculpture adds intrigue and interest to a commonly understood material as viewers try to figure out the techniques by which it was created.
Brick Sculpture
Reidsville, North Carolina-based artist Brad Spencer works with bricks to produce eye-catching, figurative sculptures. Each piece of work in the sculptor’s growing collection is an intriguing look at a common medium used in an unconventional way.
The fact that bricks are typically an architectural material whose visual shapes rarely extend beyond anything more than a boxy wall makes them all the more attention-grabbing.
Many of the sculptor’s works play with the material’s architectural use, referencing its conventional purpose by inserting a wall or some sort of rectangular public divider. From these basic structures emerge Spencer’s three-dimensional figures.
The artist uses a relief technique, working with unfired clay first to carve his figures in a brickwork pattern. He then proceeds to fire the pieces individually and assemble the bricks on the site of its display.
Spencer says of his material of choice: “Brick sculpture can be dated back to ancient Babylon but remains a fresh and interesting enhancement to any building, wall or environment. The brick medium has all the same characteristics of durability and low maintenance as a brick building, blends well in settings where other brick construction is present, looks good with landscaping and has a familiarity which is comforting to people.”
Brick Sculptures By Brad Spencer
Brad Spencer is one of the very few artist in the world who creates sculptures from bricks. A BFA in Painting and Drawing from UNCG and an MFA in Sculpture, Brad has been a working sculptor since 1984. During his undergraduate work in painting, he took sculpture as an elective course, through which he discovered his calling.
Spencer’s mediums include clay, plaster, cement and bronze. In 1989 he began to experiment with bas relief sculpture in the brick medium that allowed him to use his experience in painting, drawing and sculpture.
Spencer would carve unfired clay brick material in his Reidsville studio, then deconstruct the sculpture, brick by brick and have it fired. He would then reconstruct the sculpture using the fired bricks with mortar at the site of installation. He likes to involve the public when he reconstructs his work, even allowing onlookers to set a brick or two.
Brick sculpture can be dated back to ancient Babylon but remains a fresh and interesting enhancement to any building, wall or environment. The brick medium has all the same characteristics of durability and low maintenance as a brick building, blends well in settings where other brick construction is present, looks good with landscaping and has a familiarity which is comforting to people. Brick sculpture adds intrigue and interest to a commonly understood material as viewers try to figure out the techniques by which it was created
Spencer has work in public spaces throughout the Southeast including Charlotte, Greenville, SC, and Asheville.
