Brennand workshop, a surreal ride

Packed with sculptures, temples, ceramic murals, paintings and drawings, the Oficina Cerâmica Francisco Brennand is a “surreal walk”, such is the beauty and uniqueness of the place located in the Northeast of the country. The works scattered among the gardens, lakes and water mirrors that descend to the banks of the Capibaribe River, in Recife, still having as a backdrop a part of the old Atlantic Forest, transform the space into a popular tourist attraction.

Reference site for Brazilian ceramics, the workshop was designed by one of the greatest sculptors and potters in Brazil, the Pernambuco Francisco Brennand, 89 years, in the ruins of a pottery. Over decades the pottery has been transformed into a monumental architectural ensemble of great originality, constantly changing, where the work is associated with architecture to create a deep and mythological universe. The Brennand Workshop has more than two thousand sculptures distributed, in addition to the numerous paintings by the artist, in 14 thousand square meters.

Tradition in ceramics

Francisco Brennand comes from a traditional family of ceramic entrepreneurs. Father Ricardo Lacerda de Almeida Brennand founded Cerâmica São João da Várzea, in 1917. “Cerâmica São João da Várzea had its manufacturing finished in the middle of the 1940. Thereafter, the factory remained closed, only working with a single kiln that produced refractory bricks for plant boilers and blast furnaces. It was as a visual artist and researcher that I took possession of this old tile and brick factory to install my work studio there., very timely, I called it a workshop ”, Brennand account.

The artist's presence in a continuous work of creation gives Oficina Brennand an unusual character. Brennand's works were born after much research by the artist, resulting in an amazing technique. “I discovered that the fundamentals of the material I was looking for were found in the process of repeating the different passages through the ceramic material oven. And it was on this material that I created my murals ”, complete the artist, winner of the biggest award given in South America to an artist, the Gabriela Mistral Award.

Mythological works

The artist works with ceramics not only in the form, but also with color. It obtains a great amount of shades through the temperature variations that act on the pigments during the burning of the pieces. Brennand's sculptures have the character of totems, or relate to popular tradition signs.