Featuring: Paul Eastwood, Antony Gormley, Lesley James, Lydia Meehan, Renee So and Liam Stokes-Massey.

Wrexham’s considerable contribution to the story of brick, tile and terracotta manufacture forms the foundation for this exhibition.

From mid-19th Century up to as late as 2008, Wrexham was known world-wide for its manufacture and international distribution of bricks, tiles and terracotta products. Nicknamed ‘Terracottapolis’, Wrexham produced distinctively red bricks and decorative tiles that have been used extensively in some of the grandest buildings across the British Isles.

The exhibition will utilise artefacts from Wrexham Museum’s collection. These items will be accompanied and complemented by contemporary works of art from local practitioners

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Lead image: Local strata, Lesley James 2021

Every Saturday from 10am-12pm we will have an artist-led session for children and their families to explore our galleries and develop imagination and making skills.

Create your own paper structure

Inspired by the Tales from Terracottapolis exhibition, we will be creating paper sculptures, bricks and houses. The exhibition inspired by Wrexham’s rich history of brickworks and terracotta, and to reflect this, we will be decorating our paper structures with archival photos of Wrexham! Each participant will make at least one 3D paper creation to take home

Book online to guarantee a place. Limited drop-in places available on the day. All children must be accompanied by an adult. 

£3 per child

BOOK YOU PLACE

As part of the Tales from Terracottapolis exhibition programme, celebrating Wrexham’s brick making history, we are pleased to present a talk by Dr Gareth Carr on ‘The Brick Terraced House – the importance of North Wales to the development of workers’ housing in Victorian Liverpool.’

6pm, 27th May 2022. Book via Eventbrite. Tŷ Pawb, Gallery 1. Free admission.

Eventbrite – Edit Sgwrs Arddangosfa / Exhibition Talk

Gareth’s presentation will explain the evolution of the terraced house form, the significance of the contribution of North Wales to the urban development of Victorian Liverpool, and the arrival of the brick ‘bye-law’ terraced house in Wrexham towards the improvement of public health.

From the desperate urban poverty of early Victorian Britain, the small ‘bye-law’ terraced house emerged as the solution to accommodating countless thousands of souls who, by the middle decades of the 19^th century, had flocked to the burgeoning towns and cities in search of work. The natural resources of North Wales, together with an innumerable flow of migrants from the Principality familiar with hard graft in the rural environment, provided Liverpool with the materials, labour and therefore the means, to satisfy the demand for workers’ housing during a period of tumultuous social change.

Dr Gareth Carr is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts, Science and Technology at Wrexham Glyndwr University, is a Registered Architect and is responsible for Construction Management and Construction Technology provision at the University. He has worked in both public and private sector architectural design offices in South Wales and in Liverpool, and is an alumnus of Neath College, West Glamorgan Institute and the University of Liverpool School of Architecture. Gareth’s research interests include the work of Richard Owens of Liverpool, Architect and Surveyor (1831-1891), and the history of Victorian speculative housing.