Manly clay sculptures outta VT

One man's trash is another man's treasure, and incidentally, nice shower curtain toga. Turning what other's leave behind into flavor for your pad, John Brickels.

Building architectural/ industrial themed stoneware sculpture for 35 years, this Essex-VT based artist uses rescued vintage metal, glass, dials, cars, etc, to create ceramic art in four categories: buildings, claymobiles, robots, and machines, each of which will one day attempt to take over the world (except for those pansy buildings). From the robots collection, there's Milliamp, a lanky six-foot C-3P0-like droid standing tall w/ light bulb horns and a wrench in hand; a wall-hung Platypus Bot w/ detailed clay bolts, vintage metal chest plate, and a seemingly angry disposition; and a robot with a saw for a hand that appears to have fallen backwards into an old wooden crate, called Bot in a Box -- since you already put your other side in last year. Life-sized claymobiles and other abstract machine-centric structures include a jacked up rusty vintage pedal car equipped with fabricated ceramic engine and tires called the 64 1/2 Mustang; the Horstmann Machine (a gold valve-topped industrial piece w/ a wire-filled electrical compartment fronted by a genuine Horstmann outlet panel); and a 43-inch stone replica of a vintage dashboard with a metal steering wheel, ashtray, and an open glove compartment, so there's no way it belonged to Jose Canseco.

There're also more architecture-driven pieces designed after farms, factories, and row houses like Tuscon Timeshare (a hilltop perched mobile home), Akron Asbestos (modeled after an Ohio factory), and a curvy rendition of an old wooden/shingled farmhouse called Wonky Barn, which some may just call a sagging refrigerator box, but what are they, the Barn Police?