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Fired with Pride | Emily Pratt
A Queer Wood-Fired Ceramics Show Metal Collage
June 5-28, 2025
First Friday Artwalk: June 6, 5-7pm, with the artists at the opening
Sidestreet Arts is delighted to have its first nationwide call-out for art, in collaboration with Queer Cat, for a show called: Emily Pratt & Fired with Pride. Queer Cat and Sidestreet Arts curated a fantastic collection of ceramic work featuring queer wood-fire artists from the across the nation! In addition, local artist Emily Pratt has returned to grace the gallery with her incredible metal-collage assemblages.
Emily Pratt is an assemblage metal-collage artist who lives in NE Portland. She gathers weathered objects from her local surroundings and transforms the assortment of metals into 2-D art. Ms. Pratt hand cuts each of these found materials and “paints” her images by nailing them onto wood with tiny nails. There is a physicality to her work, and a real celebration of the decay of her chosen medium. In her work, one can see the duality of this medium: The humble origins of metals that were possibly run over by traffic, and simultaneously see the narrative of a natural landscape, or man-made environment that the artist has envisioned for us.
The Fired with Pride exhibition includes 21 ceramic artists including several Queer Cat members. Queer Cat has been a free, annual ceramic art program that serves LGBTQIA+ artists in Portland and the surrounding area. They support the inclusion and advancement of queer artists by providing a launchpad for growth in the local wood-fire ceramics community, centering clay education, mentorship, and ceramic art.
Wood-fire spaces have a reputation of being male-dominated and guided by patriarchal norms which can feel alienating to sexually- and gender-diverse people. Queer Cat believes that creating safe spaces for marginalized artists to build community and a strong support network is important and life-changing.
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