Rebekah Frank
she/her
San Francisco, CA, USA
Rebekah Frank is a studio artist, independent writer, and arts admin. Her creative practice focuses on steel, working as a blacksmith, welder, machinist, and, currently, jeweler. Her work explores themes of protection, vulnerability, and boundaries.
“I use basic materials to define space: steel chain and short lengths of steel wire. The structures are minimal, spacious, without complexity. Despite the geometry and material, they are not hard pieces.
Softness enters the pieces as they drape and conform to the environment they interact with, the gentle pull of gravity, the planar surfaces of a table, the curves of the body. There is a delicacy in the line and in the structure, but these flexible perimeters and forms create their own spaces, capturing a moment within their curves and edges.”
What does being queer mean to you in relation to your material choices? Is it something you consider?
“My material choice is limited to steel. It is affordable, ubiquitous and structural which lets me be playful with it. Using steel wire to make chainmail allows the steel to move in unexpected ways: drape, collapse, wiggle, and dance. My work is both graceful and humorous. Perhaps as a queer person using this particular material in this way allows me a little more freedom for myself."
"Potential Space, a series", Mild steel, sterling silver, nickel silver, 2" x 2" x 3", 2022Is the work queer because the maker is queer, or is it queer because the subject matter is queer?
“Queer, the adjective, doesn't have a permanent definition. It's always changing. Queer is a deviation from cultural norms. When something that was once queer becomes culturally accepted, the meaning of what is queer shifts. So trying to pin it down is deliciously futile."