Never Neglect the Bricks
2008-08-07

Never Neglect the Bricks

                                                                     ---Some Information about Brick Sculpture

When you think of bricks, you probably envision something hard, red and rectangular. The thought of windswept sea oats, ornate patterns or creeping vines probably doesn't cross your mind. Perhaps that's because you've never met a brick sculptor and never seen a brick sculpture.

History of Brick Sculpture
Sculpting in brick is over 3,000 years old. First practiced in the walled cities of ancient Mesopotamia, However£¬until recent years, brick sculpture begins to be used much all over the world. 

Figures on Brick Sculptures
Carvings on bricks may cover a wide range of subjects. Usually seen are human figures drawn from popular legends, dramas and folklore, most of them lifelike and spirited. Animals and plants are also favourite subjects, mostly those portending power and good luck or representing certain lofty qualities, for example, dragon, phoenix, plum, bamboo, chrysanthemum and so on. Other carvings represent attempts to reproduce traditional paintings on bricks. Apart from the sculpted pictures, they are often complete with inscriptions and seal marks.
The large numbers of brick-carvings which we can still see today are impressive with their vivid figures, their composition in depths and on varying levels, giving a feeling of three dimensions and appealing with an impact not found in frescoes. 

Materials Used to Carve Brick Sculptures
This particular art of sculpture was done on a kind of carefully polished blue brick. It was called fangzhuan (square brick) in the Ming Dynasty and jinzhuan ("gold" brick, see a preceding article of this title under ARCHITECTURE) in the Qing Dynasty. This brick was fine in texture and most suitable for carving, but as it was also brittle, the work might be easily ruined by a slip of the carving tool.

Where to Use Brick Sculptures
There's no limit to the places where you can use brick sculpture. You can use it on an entrance wall, over the doorway or as a garden or poolside sculpture," Landerman says. "Brick sculpture can work with any style of architecture. You can have any color you want, and it can go with any decor. Brick sculpture can be incorporated into the design of a new home, or you can replace existing bricks with sculpted bricks. Usually, it can endure for more than a lifetime.

How to Make a Brick Sculpture
If you're wondering how brick sculptors chisel out such intricate designs from solid bricks, the answer is: they don't. Actually, the sculptors begin their work before the bricks are hardened.
Bricks start out as clay. When they're molded and cut into rectangles, they have the consistency of frozen ice cream. The sculptors can then sketch and carve designs on a stack of bricks (figure A).
When the sculptor is finished carving, she takes the bricks apart (figure B) and numbers them so that they can be put back together in the proper sequence. The bricks are then placed on a pallet and heated in a kiln until they reach the appropriate hardness.
Sculptors frequently use themes in their projects. For example, the brick pillars in the entryway (figure C) and around the fence (figure D) will match the design of the fireplace (figure E) and the deck piers (figure F).
When a brick sculpture is reassembled, the lines and flow are maintained despite the mortar joints (figure G).