A Barnacle and a Brown.
Welcome to Barnacle Brown, a little ceramics studio that operates strictly under Murphy’s Law.
If something can go wrong, it probably will.
The Brown.
My love of art began from a young age, growing up with a mum who doubled as a graphic designer and artist, and a grandma that was one of the most flamboyant seamstresses I’ve ever known, I was always surrounded by creativity. After leaving school, I ended up starting a double degree in fine art and education. This lasted about a year before I rebelled against my parents wishes, and switched my degree to marine biology. From here, I worked over seas as a little baby conservationist/scientist on a few turtle and reef projects, then got a job as a seal trainer at a zoo for a while, before being snapped up by Rolex for a year as a marine scientist. After Rolex, I settled down in Tasmania to do a masters, study dolphins, and swim around with seals and whales in my spare time.
Things were going great until Covid. I lost my jobs, and any future research projects were well and truly on hold. So, I had to fall back on my least favourite skill set I have developed over the years, and went to work on some big dirty diesels - and by big dirty diesel I mean I drove 1.5km long coal trains for two years in Newcastle.
During this time I was desperate to get back to the woman I used to be. I couldn’t travel, I couldn’t get work back on the water, so I returned to my favourite form of art - sculpture. Naturally, everything I made was ocean themed of course, and so the whale mugs were born!
For me, ceramics has always been something I have done on and off throughout my 20’s and it’s something I always felt I had unfinished business with. All I ever wanted was a mug with a whale tail on it. Turns out a lot of people also want mugs with whale tails on them.
So, I bought an old Venco wheel off a friend, worked at my old ceramic teachers studio one day a week in exchange for lessons on the wheel, and saved up to buy The Barnacle.
The Barnacle.
I remember when I first saw The Barnacle (Barney) on gumtree. She is a big-fat-30-something year old Woodrow kiln with a gorgeous teal paint job. It was love at first sight.
Barney was located down on the South Coast, and was trapped there due to the 12787th spicy cough lockdown. Trucks weren’t allowed through Sydney unless you could prove you were a business, so my heavy vehicle license was useless in my plan to get her home. After a week of scheming, I finally managed to convince a truck company to go get her and bring her to me.
Fast forward through the delivery truck getting stuck in my street trying to do a U-turn, pushing Barney up a hill reminiscent of Mount Everest to get her into my studio, then taking her back down the driveway a few months later when I moved house, setting her up in her new home, and forcing her old body to do ridiculous things while I test glazes, and here we are.
Things always go wrong around us, but that’s ok, because as long as Brown can sit by the sea and drink tea from a mug shaped like a whale, she’s happy.