THE BRICK CARVER - north Herefordshire
Made from brick pieces found on beaches or river beds, these hearts (about 11cm wide x 3cm thick) can be indoor or outdoor ornaments; teapot stands; they can be set within path or patio pavings and steps; I also make thinner ones (about 20mm thick) that can be set within the face of a plastered wall indoors, or in the face of a rendered wall outdoors. (See Gallery C). Plus bigger ones cut from stone or old quarry tiles, and tiny heart shaped paperweights. Some customers have used one to mark the burial spot of a much loved pet.
Bottles are drilled to accommodate dried flower or twig displays - or merely to stand as ornaments in their own right. Individually carved, they all differ.
My name is Jan Latusek ("Joz")
Most of my working life involved the design, construction and restoration of buildings ... and for six years I also worked as a rural postman. Now retired, I still work with bricks and other building materials, but from an artistic angle instead.
I salvage hundred year old clay bricks from demolished Victorian or Edwardian buildings - bricks that might otherwise be crushed as hardcore or dumped in landfill. Imperial size (slightly larger than modern metric bricks). Including some that were produced at brickworks in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Radnorshire.
I carve them into characterful bookends, doorstops, candleholders, letters & numerals, garden & hearthside ornaments, paperweights. No two are identical - some are totally unique. I am not aware of anyone else in the UK doing this, so they make very unusual gifts, many of them at very affordable prices! Gifts that can last for hundreds of years.
I also produce individual wooden items crafted from reclaimed timber (see Fallen Branches at Facebook) And occasionally ceramic items, plus my own range of local photographic greetings cards (see Oakdust Cards on Facebook).
FUTURE EVENTS:
Saturday 15 August 2022. Arts & Crafts Show at Holy Trinity Church, Bosbury.
Sunday 31 July 2022. Stall at Kyre Park near Tenbury Wells. 10am - 2pm
NOTE: My Dec 12 stall at Bishops Frome Craft Fayre is cancelled. The event is still on (30 stalls, 10am-1pm)
Exhibition/sale Fri/Sat 1/2 October 2021, at Poplands, Little Cowarne, HR7 4RH, along with carvings from rescued wood and local photo cards.
PAST EVENTS:
Heritage Centre Gallery, Bromyard; 2017 Spring Exhibition.
Herefordshire Art Week.
HELLENS GARDEN FESTIVAL - Much Marcle. Plants, food, music, art and crafts, and all in keeping with nature. Sculpture trail, affordable healthy food, traditional crafts.
EXHIBITION. The Old Stables Gallery, Tourist Information Centre, Leominster. With metalcraft artist Paul Thomas, photographer Linda Thomas.
BROMYARD HOP FESTIVAL.
Local events at Pencombe, Ullingswick, Dinmore, Leominster, Hay-on-Wye, Hereford.
Born in Leominster, Herefordshire. Brought up in Birmingham, but escaped to the Cotswolds, then Carmarthenshire. Then back home in Herefordshire, 60 years after leaving! Based midway between Leominster, Hereford & Bromyard. Email me at breconeer@gmail.com or message me via my Facebook page - especially if you can offer me a suitable local storage space for bricks and wood, or regular/occasional display space. Or if you regularly dispose of hardwood offcuts (including heavily weathered ones such as old oak or chestnut fence posts).. And especially if you can offer me a namestamped old brick or two such as used as doorstops on my 'Gallery C' page!
Website last updated 30 July 2022