Rachelle Austen
Rachelle Austen – 'Naturae Tactu, Saggar IV', Sculpture
$200
Exploring the interplay between materials with relative mass and weight. The solid porcelain slabs fired in a saggar with rice hulls to impregnate the porcelain symbolise the repetitive nature of resilience and perseverance, with a focus on positive and negative space. Each form retains the original mass of the clay; no material was removed, only displaced, preserving the balance between weight and volume. This displacement highlights the relationship between positive and negative space and cause and effect reflecting how every shift creates a unique outcome, yet no two results are
the same.
the same.
The sculptures were placed in a saggar, an enclosed ceramic box filled with rice hulls. As the rice hulls burned away during firing, they left behind twilight tones and hues on the surface, creating natural, organic finishes. This process highlights the transformative power of nature, as the subtle textures and colours emerge from the interaction between materials and fire.
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Rachelle Austen of ‘Tiny Time’ is a a ceramic artist, living and working on her bush block
in the Macedon Ranges on Dja Dja Wurrung country. Rachelle pushes her material to the extremes with the intent of causing cracks and fissures into the delicately thin androbust solid forms, pushing the material before and beyond breaking, a metaphor for the resilience of existence, the fragility of life and most importantly, the beauty that may be found in the broken, and finding acceptance in imperfections. She has a background in Industrial Design, graduating from a Bachelors at Monash University.
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Material: porcelain slab fired in saggar with rice hull
Dimensions: approx. 9 x 14 x 3cm