Susan's Cabinet: Sculpted Brick Art

Portion of sculpted brick mural by Johnny Hagerman, 1988, Huntsville, Alabama

The art of brick sculpting dates back nearly 3,000 years to ancient Mesopotamia, and it is still practiced today using the same basic method. The sculptor carves the bricks of “green” (unfired) clay, fires them at 2000 °F, and then reassembles the design with mortar.

The gold standard of ancient brick sculpting is the Babylonian Ishtar Gate, constructed about 575 BCE under King Nebuchadnezzar II. The gate was part of a walled processional way leading into the city and it incorporated 120 lions, as well as bulls and dragons. Parts of it can be seen in museums around the world, including in Chicago, Detroit, and New York.

One of 120 glazed brick lions that decorated the Processional Way at the Gate of Ishtar in ancient Babylon. (Photo taken at the Oriental Institute of Chicago)

Right here in Huntsville, we have a sculpture by Johnny Hagerman, General Shale Brick Company’s award-winning brick sculptor. The space-themed sculpture is located on the façade of the former General Shale Brick sales and administrative office building.

Former General Shale Brick building, 13207 Memorial Pkwy SW., Huntsville, Alabama

Space-themed sculpted brick mural by Johnny Hagerman, 1988, Huntsville, Alabama

Hagerman was an art teacher in Virginia in 1985 when he was introduced to brick sculpting. Until then, he mostly worked in watercolor and had done a little wood sculpting. He approached General Shale Brick and worked for them part time learning the craft by trial and error. By 1991 he left teaching and became General Shale's resident artist. Huntsville's mural and one he did for Nashville's Opryland Hotel (also in the late '80s) are some of his early work. The Opryland Hotel mural is one of his largest murals and, although I have been to the hotel many times, I had no idea of its existence. Next time I’m there I will hunt it down (assuming its still there, they have done extensive building over the years and I can't find much information on it).

The Huntsville mural celebrates the Rocket City's space heritage

Hagerman's later work includes this fountain in Gray, Tennessee. The fountain, and much more of his work, can be seen in General Shale's "Brick as Art" brochure.

Fountain at East Tennessee State University and General Shale Brick Natural History Museum at Gray Fossil Site in Tennessee, by Johnny Hagerman, 2015

The tiny town of Concordia, Kansas is on my list of places to visit because it has the "longest sculpted brick mural in the U.S." It's 140 feet long and made of 6,400 bricks (each of which weighed 26 lbs when green).

The Whole Wall Mural, Concordia, Kansas, by Catherine Magel and Mara Smith, 2009
(Photo from cloudcountytourism.com)

Although brick sculpting is having a resurgence in popularity, the Brick Industry Association lists fewer than two dozen brick sculptors in the U.S. These include Brad Spencer of North Carolina, Jay Tschetter of Nebraska, and Mara Smith of Washington.