This is an archived event from Culture Days 2025.
Images
brickworks, Artists Susan Barton-Tait and Corine van Hoeve, curated by Natalie Hunter
In-person
Visual arts Sculpture & installation Painting Fibre & textile artsDate and time
Location
The Cotton Factory
270 Sherman Avenue North
Hamilton, ON
Access
Free.
Offered in English.
About
brickworks is an exhibition of paintings and hand-made paper sculptures that touch on the historicity of Canada through the utilitarian object of a brick. The image of a red brick is physically embedded in the regional architecture of Hamilton’s neighbourhoods, but also becomes a deeply seeded memory that permeates the consciousness of Hamiltonians.
Susan Barton-Tait and Corine van Hoeve both use these iconic red bricks as symbols, references, and material traces in their work. Functioning as a kind of social archeology, Susan Barton-Tait moulds, folds, and forms over one thousand handmade paper bricks into an expansive mound. It is a gesture that recognizes the labour-intensive processes in brick making and their use in the foundation of Hamilton. Using hand-ground brick pigment in her oil paints, Corine van Hoeve celebrates the humble brick in her gridded typologies by framing the subtle nuances that exist in a hand-made serialized object. Her larger-scale oil paintings of stacked and larger-than-life-sized bricks become like heroic portraits that elevate this utilitarian object beyond its intended use.
Using processes that reflect their respective disciplines, Susan Barton-Tait and Corine van Hoeve reframe and reimagine the humble Hamilton brick as a social and cultural signifier. Their approaches to making reflect processes of labour and memory embedded within Hamilton’s core values and history as a working-class city. And they make visible the influences of architecture in our daily lives.
Image: Susan Barton-Tait and Corine VanHoeve. brickworks. 2025. Curated by Natalie Hunter. Documentation photo by Natalie Hunter.
Links
- Art Fair Hamilton artfairhamiltonevents.com
Organizer
Art Fair Hamilton
A Celebration of Contemporary Art
from the Deeply Local to the Boldly International.
Experience the vibrant atmosphere of art at our annual event. We invite art lovers and collectors to join us for a weekend filled with inspiration and connection.