Dr Cathy Franzi
Dr Cathy Franzi is an award-winning ceramic artist who expresses scientific and environmental knowledge through the representation of Australian flora on ceramic form. Her vessels reflect the textures and forms of plants, the ecosystems they inhabit and the cultural values attributed to them.
Holly Leaved Banksia, 2025. Porcelain, sgraffito, 29H x 21W x 11.5Dcm. Photo: Andrew Sikorski-Art Atelier.
Her life in clay began in Adelaide in the 1990s, working in a big production pottery. “I realised I could make a living by making objects from clay on the wheel with my hands. This was when production throwers were valued as part of a long tradition. It felt liberating and exciting to carry my skills with me to support myself as I travelled further afield.”
With a first degree in Science, Cathy went on to complete a Master of Visual Arts and a Doctorate in Visual Arts (Ceramics) at the Australian National University. She researches each environment through fieldwork, archives and botanical institutions such as the National Seed Bank, and residencies at places including Bundanon Trust, Cairns Botanic Gardens and Fremantle Arts Centre have shaped major bodies of work. “With this attention comes a recognition of environments under threat and species in rapid decline.”
Represented by Sabbia Gallery in Sydney, Cathy has held seventeen solo exhibitions and her work is held in collections including Parliament House, Canberra Museum & Gallery and the Grassi Museum of Applied Art in Leipzig. She won First Prize in the 2025 Lanyon Art Prize, joined the International Academy of Ceramics in 2025 and is a finalist in the inaugural Artbank Prize. Her solo exhibition A view into the Blue opens at Sabbia Gallery in February 2027.
Cathy is confident about what lies ahead. “I feel sure Australian craft will continue, as it has from the past, to the present and into the future, with energy, creativity and innovation. Humans respond to material, imagination and the work of the hand and the way crafted objects express time, culture and meaning.”