Ian Barry Brickell (26 October 1935 – 23 January 2016) was a New Zealand potter, writer, conservationist and founder of Driving Creek Railway.
Biography
Born in New Plymouth in 1935, Brickell was the son of Shirley Margaret Wooler and Maurice Crawford Brickell. The family soon moved to Auckland, initially staying in Meadowbank then settling in Devonport on Auckland's north shore. While a student at Takapuna Grammar School, Brickell was introduced to potter Len Castle. He enrolled in a Bachelor of Science Degree at Auckland University College in 1954, completing his studies under the Post Primary Teacher's Bursary Scheme. His first and only teaching appointment was in 1961, at Coromandel District High School. This lasted only a few months. Brickell then became a full-time potter and purchased his first property near the township of Coromandel. Because this location had good access by sea to Auckland, he was able to deliver pots to the city, or at times, sell them directly from the wharf.
In 1974, he bought the adjacent 60-acre property and created Driving Creek Railway and Potteries in the Coromandel, with workshops and kilns, where he worked with other potters. The line for the railway runs through around 20,000 replanted native trees and is under the care of the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust. Much of the land for the track was cleared initially by hand with bulldozers later making it safe, and the lines were purchased from a local closed coal mine. Brickell said: "I wanted to demonstrate that you can have engineering in a rugged landscape and it could be good. Engineering doesn't have to be ugly." In October 1990 Driving Creek Railroad was opened officially under the Ministry of Transport.
Brickell met Theo Schoon through Len Castle.
He wrote several books and small publications, including A New Zealand Potters' Dictionary (1985) and Rails toward the Sky (2011). In 1996, Christine Leov-Lealand published the biography Barry Brickell: A Head of Steam. In 2013 Auckland University Press published the book His Own Steam: The Work of Barry Brickell to coincide with a major touring retrospective of his pottery work, organised by the Dowse Art Museum and featuring 100 of his pieces. In 2008 Brickell paid tribute to the recently deceased poet Hone Tuwhare, noting that his words [reminded him]... "of an albatross with wings outstretched and soaring. It would alight in unexpected places, showering humour, wicked fun and generosity where it was not always known".
Brickell noted in 2013 that most of his works hadn't been for sale, adding: I've never wanted to sell anything. Selling and money are anathema to me. I have sold truckloads of pottery in order to make a living, in order to survive. It wasn't pleasant, but it was much better than school teaching, and I could dress as I wanted to. What I'm trying to say is the drudgery is still there of making money or surviving.
Kiln-building
Brickell was known for his skill at building kilns. Most of the kilns at Driving Creek Railway were designed and built by Brickell using bricks made on-site from clay sourced on the same property. According to Christine Leov-Lealand's biography, Brickell built his first brick kiln at age seven under the family home in Devonport, which was almost set alight.
Brickell built his first homemade kiln in Freemans Bay in the mid-1950s, this acted as a social hub for fellow potters and artists such as Hamish Keith and Keith Patterson and paving the way for the establishment of dealer galleries like New Vision.
He built a round coal-fired kiln for potter Yvonne Rust in Greymouth in 1968, and in 1975, constructed another for artist Ralph Hotere in Port Chalmers, fired from pine bark recycled from a nearby wharf. In 1982, Brickell was invited to Vanuatu to build a kiln and establish a ceramics programme for young people, and in 1986, he built a wood-fired salt-glaze kiln for the Northern Arizona University Art Gallery.
Selected exhibitions
The Press reported on 24 September 1964 that the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council, the governing board of Creative New Zealand, had organised an exhibition of New Zealand ceramics and paintings to open in the Takashimaya store in Ginza, during the Tokyo Olympic Games. The exhibition, which was later to tour Malaysia and India, included work by Brickell as part of a selection, said by the Director of the Auckland Art Gallery, Peter Tomory, to show work that reflected the variety and professionalism in New Zealand and "help counter the impressions...[that New Zealand]...was a nation of shepherds".