Coromandel Pottery Shop, New Zealand

Driving Creek Railway & Potteries Introduction

The Driving Creek Railway & Potteries complex blends into the natural bush setting in the beautiful Coromandel, New Zealand.

Tour our Coromandel pottery shop then spend time in the craft shop viewing the finished works.

As well as our arts and crafts in the Coromandel we have a range of well-researched material on local history and ecology for you to enjoy. Take a Coromandel train ride while you are here.

Coromandel Pottery Sculptures

Barry Brickell creates a range of pottery sculptures:

Sculpture, Ceramic, Terracotta – Barry Brickell makes large sculptured forms using clay he digs from his own hilly property. He uses the coiling method to gradually build up large sinuous, abstract and natural forms.

He also creates dog-like forms and indigenous water-flow columns and fountains up to two or more metres tall, fired in a wood-burning kiln of his own design.

These sculptures reflect the nature and geology of New Zealand. His work is very individual and he has evolved his own style over the past 40 years. Barry chooses to dig and process his own clay, which he then transports down the narrow-gauge railway which he built to his large pottery complex and many experimental kilns. As well as attracting tourists he also uses the railway to deliver native trees to his Kauri reforestation project. There are ceramic art works among the trees along the railway with terracotta murals at tunnel approaches. Everything is on a large scale. Barry's vision is to combine art, conservation and engineering.

Sculpture, Ceramic, Salt-glazed – Barry Brickell also makes smaller, more refined sculptured pieces from a special clay he has discovered up his railway. These have an exceptionally rich surface texture and subtle colour range reflecting the beauty of the rugged volcanic landscape of Coromandel where he lives. For this he uses non-polluting carbonate salt and a wood-fired kiln. His work can be seen at the railway shop and his adjacent sculpture garden. Individual pieces of Barry's sculpture can be seen via the Internet.

About Barry

Barry Brickell is a most unusual man. As a boy he hated sports and loved art and being on his own. With a very inquiring mind he has always preoccupied himself with the idea of combining art, conservation and Engineering. Since age 12 he has worked with clay and fire, often getting him into trouble with those who tried to control him.

Today at age 66 and in very good health, Barry continues to make ceramic sculpture, pottery and tiles, the likes of which cannot be seen anywhere else because of his dislike of contemporary fashions and styles. Indeed his work is so uniquely individual that even major art collectors are only just beginning to recognise his extraordinary contribution. Driven by the power and drama of the effects of fire and clay, and using simple, graceful, natural and architectural forms, Barry believes in doing everything from the ground up.

He digs and processes his own clay with a fascinating collection of old, restored machinery, and fires his kilns mainly on pinewood. He has the greatest variety of kilns in the whole country so his Driving Creek Potteries is a fascinating place to wander around. Barry also has a sculpture garden and a native wildlife sanctuary under development nearby.

All this as well as having spent 26 years building the Driving Creek Railway, which is now run largely by staff so he can get back to his art full-time. Barry is a copious writer and his craft shop is also an outlet for his literary work as well as pottery.

For further information about our New Zealand arts and crafts, please contact us or visit our Coromandel pottery shop Web site.

Coromandel Train Ride

Taking the train ride through the lovely Coromandel region is very popular—over 30,000 visitors over the last year.

The one hour return trip on our innovatively designed trains takes you through replanted native kauri forest and includes two spirals, three short tunnels, five reversing points and several large viaducts as it climbs up to the ridge-top terminus.

Once at the terminus, visitors can enjoy great views of the Hauraki Gulf, Coromandel town and the rugged eastern hills.

The train ride is open daily during summer: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm and whenever the trains are running. Bookings are necessary during the busy summer season.

For further information about our Coromandel train ride, please contact us or visit our Coromandel train ride information.