🎧 2026 Emerging Artist: Brady Fanning, Baltimore, Maryland Ceramics Monthly

The audio file for this article was produced by the Ceramic Arts Network staff and not read by the author.

Ceramics Monthly: What do you see as the current trends in ceramics, and where do you see yourself in that field? 

Brady Fanning: Contemporary ceramics exists in a liminal space between craft and fine art, tradition and futurism. Artists are increasingly using clay as a conceptual medium to explore identity and the body, memory and narrative, as well as power and politics, often in interdisciplinary ways. Over time, the vessel has evolved beyond functionality or utility to become a site for sculpture and storytelling. Ornamentation has re-emerged as a critical language, and excess is now understood as deliberate rather than purely decorative. My work operates within this expanded field. 

Drawing from traditional Greek vessel forms, I fuse architecture, insectile, and weapon-inspired shapes with technological and armor-like motifs to create sculptures that are both aggressive and seductive. Spiked protrusions suggest aggression and defense, while curved, bodily forms evoke sensuality and vulnerability. This tension reflects queer identity’s fluidity and resistance to binaries. Influenced by fetishism, fashion, drag culture, and elements of science fiction and fantasy, I treat ornamentation as a form of power. Glaze functions like armor while also mimicking lingerie, accentuating and fetishizing the sculpture’s body. By merging organic and synthetic aesthetics, I create futures where the boundaries between nature and technology dissolve. 

CM: What is the most challenging aspect of working in clay (either technically or in terms of building a career)? 

BF: During my time in higher education, institutions provided me with the resources to focus on my practice without worrying about money or materials, allowing me to develop my work. Now, outside academia, financial flow and storage have been limited. I deeply love what I do and am determined not to compromise my work due to financial constraints, which is part of why I moved to the East Coast. I have aspirations to exhibit in more galleries and support myself entirely through sculpture, but finding a way to sell work without scaling it down or altering its vision is challenging. For now, I am focusing on making and trusting that opportunities will come. I didn’t make it this far for nothing, and I believe a little delusion is necessary to become exactly who I want to be. 

Technically, the most challenging aspect of clay for me has been managing the drying process and controlling shrinkage. Despite these challenges, I have never approached a design without understanding how it could be realized; careful planning and problem-solving have always allowed me to see a project through from concept to finished work. 

Follow him on Instagram @fkabrady. 

May 2026: Table of Contents

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