Brickworks

by Gwen Heeney

Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0-8122-3782-X
Dimensions: 11.1" x 8.9" x 0.8"
Shipping Weight: 2.47 lbs.

Bricks were one of the earliest architectural uses for clay known to humanity. For more than 10,000 years, people have been shaping clay into bricks for use in creating permanent shelter. With increased skill, they used brick to form arches and gateways in complex buildings of different sizes and shapes. Eventually bricks were used to decorate walls and floors, and what had once been a strictly utilitarian item began to take on an aesthetic role.

In Brickworks, Gwen Heeney not only shows amazing creations of an international group of artists who work with brick but also gives practical information about getting commissions, working with brick factories and designing with bricks. In addition she offers insight into the technicalities involved in producing brick artworks. She covers the process from the initial pile of raw bricks, through design, the making of the piece, dismantling, firing, and reconstructing in situ.