About

I, Frank Zhu, was born in Beijing, China and relocated to Austin in 2008. I am currently an Austin‑based multidisciplinary artist and educator whose fourteen‑year investigation of clay has evolved into an expansive practice encompassing sculpture, metalwork, drawing, photography, performance, and poetry. I received my BA in Studio Art from St. Edward’s University in 2016 where I was recognized as Outstanding Student in Studio Art by the Dean of the School of Humanities and immediately embarked on both individual studio research and collaborative projects.

My studio functions as a site of rigorous material inquiry: wheel‑thrown vessels serve as formal and functional precedents, which I then subject to interventions ranging from precise surface incision to the incorporation of welded steel structures. Through this interdisciplinary methodology, I interrogate the latent relationships among form, process, and narrative. Central to my practice is the clay vessel. a paradigm of human cultural production and manual engagement. Each vessel articulates a dialectic between centrifugal mechanics and deliberate gesture, between control and surrender. Subsequent interventions surface reconfiguration, textural modulation, and the addition of metal appendages such as linear rods or tensioned cables generate formal tensions that destabilize conventional readings of utility and monumentality.

Complementing my three‑dimensional work, drawing and photography operate as parallel modes of investigation. Gestural studies chart the morphological transformations of my sculptural forms, while photographic documentation captures the interplay of light, shadow, and surface, functioning both as archival evidence and as autonomous visual texts. In performative enactments, I render the act of making itself into a durational event: unfired vessels may be fractured in situ, clay coils unraveled by hand, or steel armatures bent before an audience. each gesture foregrounding the material’s inherent vulnerability and ephemerality. Concurrently, poetic composition threads through these practices, articulating material processes in metaphorical language that may be inscribed, projected, or recited in tandem with visual works.

Since January 2018, I have directed advanced wheel‑throwing seminars at East Side Pot Shop, guiding students through complex technical challenges and interdisciplinary research. In 2024, I expanded my pedagogical scope by joining Tumbleweed Clay in Spicewood, where I design and lead workshops on wheel‑thrown and altered forms, consistently prioritizing process‑based pedagogy, critical dialogue, and historical context. I am now extending my teaching to additional studios and community workshops, and maintain an active roster of private students offering affordable, decentralized lessons to broaden access to ceramic education across Austin and beyond.

My work has been exhibited at institutions including Mexic Arte Museum, ATM Gallery, Martha’s Contemporary, and Big Medium; presented at Burning Man; and performed internationally in Houston, Austin, Beijing, and Estonia. I have undertaken national residencies at the Haystack Center for the Ceramic Arts, and my ceramic works were acquired by Kelly Wearstler for inclusion in the Austin Proper Hotel’s interior design. Collaborative public‑art commissions have further extended my practice into urban environments, fostering moments of communal engagement.

Looking ahead, I am developing a sequence of “vessel‑performances” for nontraditional venues abandoned storefronts, decommissioned industrial sites, and outdoor stages where creation, deconstruction, and reconstruction become integral components of the artwork. Simultaneously, I continue to advance my research in hybrid material systems, experimenting with novel clays, metal alloys, and digital tools such as 3D scanning to redefine the intersections of craft, architectural form, and narrative discourse. Across all media, clay, steel, paper, photography, and spoken word I strive to provoke critical reflection on material agency, aesthetic encounter, and the embodied connections between maker, object, and audience.

Upcoming Exhibitions

TBA

Past Exhibitions

2025 | Greater Austin Clay Artists, Volume – Daugherty Art Center, Austin, TX

2025 | Performance: Asymmetrical Language – Notsuoh, Houston, TX
2024 | Group Exhibition: The Seed We Plant Today – Martha’s Contemporary, Austin, TX
2024 | Workshop: Wheel-Thrown and Altered Forms – Tumbleweed Clay, Spicewood, TX
2020 | Group Exhibition: Bodies – Martha’s Contemporary, Austin, TX
2019 | Group Exhibition: Different Flowers – Martha’s Contemporary, Austin, TX
2019 | Ceramic works acquired by Kelly Wearstler for Austin Proper Hotel Permanent Collection, Austin, TX
2018 | Workshop: Large Vessels – Greater Austin Clay Artists, Austin, TX
2018 | Performance: Non-Grata – Notsuoh, Houston, TX
2016 | Performance: Non-Grata – Museum of Human Achievement, Austin, TX
2015 | Performance: Little Red Book – Scratching Beijing, Beijing, China
2014 | Juried Exhibition – Rockport Art Center, Rockport, TX
2013 | Burning Man Honorarium Project: Kinetic Baby Head – Black Rock City, NV

Teaching Engagements

Currently ⎯ East Side Pot Shop, Austin, TX

Currently ⎯ Tumbleweed Ceramics, Spicewood, TX

Currently ⎯ Mud studios Austin, Austin, TX

Currently ⎯ Art School at Laguna Gloria, Austin, TX

Currently ⎯ Feats of Clay, Austin, TX

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