An interview with potter Barry Brickell

Press, 14 June 1989, Page 14

An interview with potter Barry Brickell

The potter, Barry Brickell, features in Sunday’s “Kaleidoscope” at 10.25 p.m. on One. “Fire, Steam and Clay” records Brickell’s view that “Everyone born has a different how, that is why every human being alive has something to give, and to offer.” Brickell’s own “how” is based on his restless energy and enthusiasms — for art, steam engines, his own brand of conservation, supporting others in their growth as artists, educating, and arguing causes. “I am a natural pioneer,” says Brickell. “I have to do something nobody else has done before, because I am a-culturalised. I have got to forge a culture, literally forge one for myself by creating symbols, by creating a language for myself. “Whether it dies when I die is irrelevant, so long as I can live with it while I am alive. “What else have I got?” The "Kaleidoscope” director, Peter Coates, says it is Brickell’s search for original forms which express the essence of New Zealand, its environment and its people which has made him one of the country’s most important artists — a man he describes as “the father of indigenous New Zealand pottery.” “This may make

Brickell sound serious, and worthy,” says Coates, “but then, one must also take into account his wicked sense of humour. “Look at the names he gives his pots. He calls them balsam bowls, fatso jugs, hunker mugs and, of course, there are the never - to - be - forgotten “quango pots.” “These are named after those parliamentary committees which have no function. These pots give the appearance of being able to hold water — but this is an illusion, in fact, they have no bottom!” Coates says there is also a serious side to Brickell and his work. “For example,” says Coates, “Brickell says there is hardly a thing called New Zealand pottery. Most of it is very good, according to middle-class standards. “But a lot of it is very, very boring. It is the same sort of thing you see in England, America, or indeed, overseas anywhere. “There’s no way of telling where the stuff is made. It’s universal, international, middleclass, clay work, something which is perpetuated by competition and exhibition — where the competition theme is important.” “It is image-polish-ing by corporations and companies — it does not promote a real interest in the geology, culture, history, or sensitivity of this country at all.”