Not Made for a Cage
Susan Trimble
Not Made for a Cage (detail) 2026
Mahogany midfire clay, white raku, with leather cord
Gloss glazes, gold lustre and oxide washes over sgrafittoed coloured slip
31 x 17 x 18 cm
About the Artwork
Not Made for a Cage reflects on the courage required to live beyond inherited expectations and limiting narratives. Hand-built in midfire mahogany clay and white raku clay, the amphora form holds an intended tension between confinement and release. Within the vessel, gentle lines carved through slip suggest an interior world of reflection, understanding, and forgiveness. On the exterior, energetic mark-making describes a more robust relationship with the external world.
Coloured slip, oxide washes, glazes, and flashes of gold lustre create a richly layered surface, while two finches (with lustred beaks from speaking their truths) weave leather cord and golden thread around the cinched neck of the vessel. Their quiet, determined labour transforms this symbol of containment into one of connection, agency and possibility. Not Made for a Cage celebrates a life shaped by passion, purpose, courage, and self-awareness.
About the Artist
Susan Trimble is a South African–born emerging ceramic artist based in Meanjin/Brisbane. She immigrated to Australia as a teenager in 1983, studied graphic design, and spent three decades working in the field before discovering ceramics in 2020. Susan found an affinity for clay and a love for the ceramic process, and now works from her home studio in Camp Hill, developing handbuilt ceramic forms that draw on her love of the natural world and reflect her commitment to craftsmanship and the transformative power of art.
Susan has participated in 21 group exhibitions and was a finalist in the 2024 North Queensland Ceramic Award. Early in 2026, she was awarded Studio-on-Brunswick’s IVAP Accelerator Award and was selected for The Australian Ceramic Association’s Continuum exhibition at Noosa Regional Gallery. She will return to Artisans in the Gardens, Sydney, in October 2026 and is developing a new body of work for a solo show in June 2027.