Em Kettner

California-based artist Em Kettner (b. 1988) explores the psychological and social dimensions of contemporary life through an interdisciplinary approach. Kettner employs restrained materials—ceramic, wood, cotton and silk thread; all often associated with craft—and precise formal gesture to investigate themes of vulnerability, intimacy, and the tension between control and collapse. Balancing subtle humor with quiet unease, Kettner creates environments that invite close looking and sustained reflection, simultaneously challenging stereotypes of agency and sexuality in the context of the social interdependence of disabled bodies. Recent solo exhibitions include Cyrano , Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco (2025); Homebound, François Ghebaly, New York (2024); Sick Joke , Chapter NY, New York (2022); Slow Poke , François Ghebaly, Los Angeles (2021); Play the Fool , Goldfinch, Chicago (2020); The Eternal Worm , HARPY, Rutherford (2018). Em Kettner’s work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Stanford; the Ohana Center, Monterey; the DePaul Art Museum, Chicago; Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, Chicago. She has received the Wynn Newhouse Award and was selected as one of seven fellows for the inaugural 2025 SHACK15 Art Prize for Bay Area Artists.