We spend a lot of time in the company of mugs in this life. They bookend our days and are often at the centre of our most intimate conversations. They are quiet observers.
My mugs have become a canvas for my silly and serious reflections on everyday life. Observations of the sad, the painful, the absurd and the delightful.
I form my mugs by wheel throwing, coil building and pinching clay. Some are painted with underglaze and lustre, others are inlaid with iron oxide. They are glazed and fired at least twice, with the lustre process requiring a third firing.
In my opinion, nothing beats an excellent mug.
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Em Frank is a multidisciplinary artist currently based on Kaurna Yarta. At its core, Em’s practice is motivated by the collaborative and community building aspects of art making, along with a compulsion to tinker and play. Working in ceramics as my primary medium, Em’s practice extends across drawing, painting, mixed media and assemblage, with a proclivity for discarded and broken materials.
Currently undertaking the Jam Factory Ceramics Associateship, Em is also working with Ku Arts as a project manager, teaching ceramics at Adelaide College of the Arts, and facilitating remote art projects with Tjanpi Desert Weavers in the APY Lands.
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Materials: stoneware, glaze, red iron oxide
Dimensions: approx. 12 x 7.5cm
