Rachel Lucas
At work (playing) in my studio
Photo courtesy of Madi Young, The Cornerstore Gallery, Orange, NSW
My current series are shown below. More images can be seen by navigating via the side bar. I have recently started experimenting with sculptures in bronze and include images of my first couple of attempts.
MORTALS
A reminder that it is our mortality that makes life so precious and that growing old is a privilege that many are not afforded.
Like precious and friable objects uncovered in archeological digs, these works, suggestive of museum pieces, express faith in endurance despite the ravages of time. They balance mass against negative space, that which survives against that which has been lost, to evoke perfect forms that are still fully realised, seen clearly in the mind’s eye. Time breaks and degrades all things natural and unnatural, all human lives and artefacts, yet even undergoing these processes of destruction our works and our lives may retain strength and grace. The body breaks; the spirit is intact.
From the RAKU Kiln
Several series are featured, including:
'Country Holds' reflects on the Australian landscape- its beauty, resilience and increasing vulnerability. Coloured like fire, it speaks to a land shaped by cycles of renewal and loss, where home is continually remade in the face of drought and fire.
'Beach Comber' celebrates the simple childhood (lifelong) joy of wandering the beach looking for treasures. Seaweeds, shells, leaves, feathers and even dead beetles found on my local beach have been collected and transform the pieces through the magic of saggar firing.
'Out of the Blue' is for anyone who has spent time in the desert and experienced the impact of that vast expanse of blue sky
BETWEEN the WAVES
'Between the Waves' was initially inspired by the quiet form of shells with the vessels evolving through an ongoing response to the sea. The undulating edges and carved surfaces trace the rhythms of water, echoing the slow movements of tide, seaweed and current.
Simple classic shapes have been thrown on the wheel then altered by stretching, bending, carving and by addition of extra clay to achieve organic shapes full of motion.
TERMITE GOSPEL
Silent sentinels, vigilant and protective, a series of dead and dying trees stand guard in Yeperenye.
This series of sculptures pays tribute to these trees, reimagining the totem pole, suspended between monument and ruin.
Decay is not portrayed as failure but as renewal - a necessary passage through which life feeds life. Insects consume wood,fire clears ground, and afllen matter nourishes future growth.
The sculptures invite contemplation of mortality, interconnectedness, and humanity's place within cycles far older and larger than itself.
PAST WORK
Past series include my well known Riverbed series and Out of Earth series amongst others
