Justin Brown makes furniture and homewares using reclaimed materials. The 40-year-old says he’s fascinated by the history of the materials he finds.
“When I pick up an object that is 50 years old, I can imagine the life it has lived and the many hands that have brushed it through time,” he says.
Brown also uses found objects to create sculptural “people” — all of whom are unique characters.
“As I’m taking apart an old chair or table to give it a new life, the parts may say, ‘Hey, I would be a great pair of legs,’ or an old newel post might say, ‘I would make the perfect head, don’t you think?’”
Brown makes the unique furniture and homewares at Sticks and Bricks in Northampton.
Kathleen Mellen: How did your “people” evolve?
Justin Brown: I came to making the people quite naturally. In 2010, I was finishing up an exhibit of self-portraits through assemblages and found objects and a few of the pieces started to take on the form and quality of figurative sculptures. Since then, I have further explored that idea and how objects, when put together, can trigger an emotional response.
For my show “In These Shoes,” I wanted to capture an array of emotions, from sadness to joy, being in love, dancing when no one is looking and finding yourself lost in pensive thought.
Each of the 50-plus pieces is tied together by the idea that the shoes we choose impact our outlook on the day. My hope is that the pieces will start talking to viewers, and they will take a journey together.
K.M.: What is your creative process like?
J.B.: Each piece starts with a pair of shoes. Whether it be an antique pair of tiny wooden clogs or a vintage pair of bronzed baby shoes, the pieces start to talk to me, and we work together to shape their identities. Through culling the collection of items I collect, they start to tell me what belongs with what and how they work together.
K.M.: How do you know you’re on the right track?
J.B.: A large part of my process is to trust in the objects that I collect and then let go, to listen and look at how seemingly opposing things can fit together to tell the story of each individual sculpture. I often feel like Geppetto, whittling away in the workshop in the wee hours, pairing objects with each other and bringing life to the inanimate old things that surround me.
K.M.: What do you do when you get stuck?
J.B.: I often will set the piece aside or take it home to look at it and live with it for a while so I can sense what will happen next. Oftentimes, the most challenging part of a piece is finding the perfect arms to create just the right gesture to shape the emotions. The last piece I finished for this show was actually the first piece I began working on months ago.
K.M.: How do you know when the work is done?
J.B.: They tell me! It is not a process that I can force in any way, so when I complete a piece, we sort of stare at each other for a few minutes and it becomes clear to me that it’s finished.
K.M.: How do you name each piece?
J.B.: I get this question from folks a lot. Each piece has its own unique personality just like you and me. When I finish one, it’s often obvious what the name is. I will say that after the years I have spent making them, and with more than 200 characters out there, it does pose a challenge to not duplicate names.
Every once in a while, I name a piece after someone I know. I made a couple in love sitting on a bench in an embrace and it reminded me so much of how my grandparents related to each other that I named them after them, Bob and Barb.
“In These Shoes” will be on view through Sunday, Nov. 6, at Sticks and Bricks, 9 Market St. in Northampton, where Brown works with collaborator Liz Karney.
For information, visit:
sticksandbricksshop.com