From mid-19th Century up to as late as 2008, Wrexham was known world-wide for its manufacture and international distribution of bricks, tiles and terracotta products. Nicknamed ‘Terracottapolis’, Wrexham produced distinctively red bricks and decorative tiles that have been used extensively in some of the grandest buildings across the British Isles.
The exhibition will utilise artefacts from Wrexham Museum’s collection. These items will be accompanied and complemented by contemporary works of art from local practitioners.
The Brick Man comes to Wrexham
A highlight of the exhibition will be The Brick Man by Antony Gormley, creator of the Angel of the North sculpture in Gateshead.
The Brick Man is a 6ft model for a proposed 120ft tall sculpture that was selected from a competition for an inner-city site at the Holbeck Triangle near Leeds City Station in the late 1980s. The full-scale sculpture was never realised after it ran into objections from city planners. The model and archive for the project in the collection of Leeds Museums and Galleries are now all that remains.
Accompanying the model will be archive material from the planning stages of the sculpture. This includes letters and press cuttings that offer a fascinating insight into the public reaction and conversations that took place around the original proposals.
The loan of The Brick Man from Leeds Museums & Galleries is supported by the Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund. Created by the Garfield Weston Foundation and Art Fund, the Weston Loan Programme is the first ever UK-wide funding scheme to enable smaller and local authority museums to borrow works of art and artefacts from national collections.