Francis Alice Bruce
Observe/Learn/Play
Ceramics and other ⚧︎ art
Handmade on my verandah in Magandjin/Brisbane and as a Diploma of Ceramics student in Murwillumbah
francisalicebruce@gmail.com @francisalicebruce
[ TRANSIT ] WIP
These plates slake an obsession with queer projection onto trucks and DIY process experimentation. They collage playful expressions of personal identity where traditional masculine industry meets feminine adornment, finding affirmation on the side of a truck. Proud mechanical engines painted with delicate pinstriping and scrollwork, trucks are customised and modified, parallel to my own body.
In repetitive utility and self-portraiture, each plate is intentionally thrown with a soft, burnished rim resolving in a sharp internal edge. Referencing photocopied zines and ephemera in classic cobalt, I developed a DIY screenprinting process to translate images and queer resonance onto grey stoneware clay. I photographed big rigs down industrial side roads, cruising the M1 motorway with the dashy, and around the Northern Rivers truck stops in search for the glamorous, the cheeky, and the rogue.
The series is part of an ongoing reflective process connecting and affirming self beyond the body.
These designs feature inspiration from other vehicle and queer cultural imagery including:
✦ the keys dangling from friends’ belt loops
✦ yonic pinstriping and tramp stamps
✦ personal experience with affirming body mods and as a 2006 Subaru Forester driver
✦ inspiration from thumbing through glossaries for cheeky pottery innuendo and from fingering through Tom of Finland and J.D.s-esque truck toilet block reimaginings
✦ EUPHORIA
Catch the debut of this series at LAVA Arts Festival – Opens 4-8 pm Friday 26 June. Free! Come along!
> 26-28 JUN 2026 – LAVA Arts Festival / Diploma of Ceramics Graduate Exhibition – M|Arts Precinct & TAFE Murwillumbah – 1 Brisbane St, Murwillumbah NSW 2484
I just wanna rob all the banks, and burn rubber
Black leather gloves on the wheel, I burn rubber
Roll the windows, hot box, and burn rubber
20,000 pencils in the bin, I burn rubber
I wanna smell the smoke in the air, and burn rubber
People say I’m drab, I don’t care, I burn rubber
Please throw some water on yourself, I burn rubber
Begging me to stay, no thanks, I’ll burn rubber
– SOPHIE & Sarah Bonito
Try your hand at truck spotting! Since this project, I have been chasing and photographing big rigs down industrial side roads, on the M1 with the dashy, and around the Northern NSW truck stops on the search for the Glamorous, the Cheeky, and the Rogue.
“Filthy Habits”
“All night long”
“Lone Wolf”
“Just a Pup”
“Just Peachy”
“Raising Hell”
“Sand in my boots”
“Dirt road dollars”
“Shot in the dark”
“Life is too short to drive an ugly truck!”
“Don’t let the world change your smile”
Francis Alice Bruce 