“Without this place, I wouldn’t have had that opportunity. I can’t tell you what I would be doing. Honestly, I don’t know. This has worked out great. Walking through the Bowerston.”
In Licking County, art and artists exist in every corner you look. Whether you prefer the visual art that colors Licking County’s walls or the convergence of emotional strength and expert performing chops at the many performing arts centers, the natural beauty that leaves everyone in the county – artist or not – inspired, or even how brewers bring together modern technology and old traditions to create one-of-a-kind flavors at the incredible number of breweries and restaurants throughout the region. Even if you’re not seeking out art, even if you’re just enjoying a Sunday drive through Licking County’s vast sunflower fields and decide to stop off on a side road, you’re bound to stumble into something that evokes emotion and gives you a new perspective. Something uniquely Licking County. But anyone who’s been to the Bowerston Shale Company lot or has seen the incredible sculptures by Allen Moran knows that.
Visual art catches your eye, and musical art can influence your mood in a moment. Licking County’s many restaurants and breweries are proof that art can have a delicious smell and taste, too. But when you’re compelled to reach out and touch a piece of art, to feel what the artist felt not just emotionally but physically, you forge a new type of connection to the arts. And the best part of Moran’s sculptures? You’re welcome to touch; his sculptures aren’t fragile. In fact, his pieces will exist long after we’re all gone, because they’re carved from brick.
There are very few artists like Moran out there, and that’s because few artists have access to the sheer amount of brick the medium requires. To create his sculptures, Moran makes a sketch, then stacks green brick, or pre-fired bricks, in the formation it’ll be mortared in. Using clay carving tools, Moran carves directly into the soft bricks, forming three-dimensional shapes on a one-dimensional surface. Imagine the art you find on the quarters in your pocket; they’re formed and sculpted, but set against a flat background. Then, the green bricks are taken down, fired in a kiln and shipped out to be mortared onsite.
Moran attended the Columbus College of Art and Design as an illustration major, and took a summer job at Bowerston Shale in 1974, helping to ship and manufacture brick. The company had its own brick artist at the time, and Moran was instantly gripped by the medium. He began to learn the craft, and in 1989, Bowerston Shale hired Moran as its full-time brick artist. The end of 2019 marks Moran’s retirement, and he considers himself lucky to have found a company that supports his artistic endeavors. “I think, with anyone, you finally get to do what you love and it’s worth it,” Moran says. “Without this place, I wouldn’t have had that opportunity. I can’t tell you what I would be doing. Honestly, I don’t know. This has worked out great.”
“Once I started cutting, I didn’t really do much of anything else. That’s why, when I’m out of here, I want to either carve in wood, but I think my desire is to do rock carving,” Moran says. “I’m just curious. You see a rock out there, sitting anywhere, and I want to see what I can turn that into.” When the company was in competition with other brick manufacturers for large projects, Moran would create a brick sculpture to accompany the bid. “I really have no complaints about my life. I don’t. I’ve done what I really have loved to do and everything’s just turned out fine for me,” Moran says. “I wouldn’t want to leave, and I never will.”
