Susan Frost

About the artist

Susan Frost (SA) is a full-time ceramic artist working in porcelain on a potter’s wheel. Susan has been working with clay since 2005 starting as a keen amateur then moving on to more formalised training at the Adelaide College of the Arts before entering JamFactory’s Associate Program in 2009. Susan stayed on at JamFactory as a studio tenant spending the next six years improving her skills in throwing, glazing and firing whilst developing a successful production range, undertaking commission work and exhibiting. Susan now works from her home studio in Adelaide. In 2019, Susan undertook a 4-month self-directed residency at BKLYN CLAY in New York with funding assistance from Arts South Australia. Her time was divided between studying the city’s architecture and museum collections and making work in the studio in response. This slower, research-based approach was incredibly rewarding and has shifted the way she works. Susan’s focus has now moved away from full-time production as she develops one-off pieces and bodies of work for exhibition.

Artist statement

Exhibition work: Rise, 2022, porcelain, blended stain glaze

Colour is integral to my work. Minimalist forms allow me to explore the interrelationships of mood by placing series of colours closely together. The placement and proportions of the chosen objects enable colours to reflect and bounce off each other encouraging unexpected and exciting interactions to occur.

Decoration inspired by architectural adornment is layered and etched into the surface of these wheel thrown vessels. Geometric in nature they are meticulously placed so they flow continuously around the form.

The materiality of the porcelain is exploited through long, hot firings. The vessel shrinks and moves as it reaches vitrification, achieving strength and translucency. The melting glaze breaks on the edges of the decoration and pools in its recesses creating tonal contrasts.

For SIXTY, the development of my work has progressed by increasing the size and complexity of form and decoration which I have unified into an installation context. Evoking the energy of the New York skyline without being too literal, these works sit with each other in a way that requires a sophisticated use of colour, pattern and scale.

Image: Susan Frost, Rise, 2022. Photo: Grant Hancock.