About

Frank Zhu (b. Beijing, China) is an Austin-based multidisciplinary artist and educator whose fourteen-year engagement with clay has evolved into an expansive practice encompassing sculpture, metalwork, drawing, photography, performance, and poetry. Relocating to Austin in 2008, Zhu received a BA in Studio Art from St. Edward’s University in 2016, where he was recognized as Outstanding Student in Studio Art by the Dean of the School of Humanities. Upon graduation, he embarked on both independent research and collaborative projects, establishing a studio practice defined by rigorous material inquiry.

At the core of Zhu’s work is the clay vessel—a paradigm of human cultural production and manual engagement. Wheel-thrown forms serve as formal and functional precedents, later subjected to interventions ranging from precise surface incision to the integration of welded steel structures. Through this interdisciplinary methodology, Zhu investigates the latent relationships among form, process, and narrative, articulating a dialectic between centrifugal mechanics and deliberate gesture, between control and surrender. Surface reconfigurations and textural modulations destabilize conventional readings of utility and monumentality.

Drawing, poetry, and photography operate as parallel modes of inquiry. Gestural drawings chart the morphological transformations of sculptural forms, while photographs document the interplay of light, shadow, and surface—functioning both as archival evidence and as autonomous visual texts. Performance works render the act of making itself into a durational event and provide narrative entry points: 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 vulnerability and ephemerality. Poetic compositions weave through these practices, translating material processes into metaphorical language that may be inscribed, projected, or recited alongside visual works.

Since 2018, Zhu has taught advanced wheel-throwing seminars at East Side Pot Shop, guiding students through complex technical challenges and interdisciplinary research. In 2024 and 2025, he expanded his teaching to Tumbleweed Clay, Mud Studio Austin, The Contemporary Art School at Laguna Gloria, and Feats of Clay Studios, designing curricula and leading workshops grounded in process-based pedagogy, critical dialogue, and historical context. He continues to extend his teaching into additional studios, community workshops, and private lessons, working to broaden access to ceramic education across Austin and beyond.

Zhu’s work has been exhibited at Mexic-Arte Museum, ATM Gallery, Martha’s Contemporary, and Big Medium; presented at Burning Man; and performed internationally in Houston, Austin, Beijing, and Estonia. He has completed national residencies at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and his ceramic works have been acquired by Kelly Wearstler for the Austin Proper Hotel. Collaborative public-art commissions have brought his work into urban contexts, fostering moments of communal engagement.

Currently, Zhu is developing a sequence of “vessel-performances” for nontraditional venues—abandoned storefronts, decommissioned industrial sites, outdoor stages—where creation, deconstruction, and reconstruction are integral to the work. He is also advancing research in hybrid material systems, experimenting with novel clays, metal alloys, and digital tools such as 3D scanning to expand the intersections of craft, architectural form, and narrative discourse. Across all media—clay, steel, paper, photography, and spoken word—Zhu seeks to provoke critical reflection on material agency, aesthetic encounter, and the embodied connections between maker, object, and audience.