Artist Interview with Ceramicist Rachel Lucas
Words by Madeline Young and Rachel Lucas | Photographs by Madeline Young.
There’s a quiet strength running through Rachel Lucas’s work, a sense of time, place, and material in constant dialogue.
Following her win in The Corner Store Gallery’s Mini Series Art Prize, Rachel returns with her solo exhibition Shape of Time, a refined body of ceramic work exploring landscape, endurance, and the passage of time. Working across stoneware and porcelain, her sculptural forms are shaped by the textures and rhythms of the Australian landscape, and by her belief in clay as a living, ever-changing material.
I recently visited Rachel at her magnificent home studio on the Central Coast for a behind-the-scenes look at her practice. Surrounded by bushland and the natural elements that inform her work, it’s a space that reflects both the quiet discipline and creative freedom at the heart of her process.
In this studio visit and interview, Rachel shares her journey into ceramics, the balance between control and surrender, and the ideas underpinning Shape of Time.
Studio visit with Rachel Lucas, Australian ceramic artist.
You came to ceramics after a career in science and business - what drew you to clay, and what made you stay?
My daughter had done a course in wheel throwing and suggested I try it. No one warned me it was addictive and after the very first lesson I was hooked. There is something incredibly satisfying about taking a lump of mud and creating something beautiful and useful. Also I’m basically a big kid and ceramics is mud pies for grown ups. It’s my happy place.
You describe clay as a “living material” - can you expand on what that means in your day-to-day practice?
Clay is a natural product, malleable, constantly changing and changeable - reflecting life. It carries history in its structure, in the way it has formed by nature’s action over eons. Our knowledge of past civilisations has been built on pottery shards, the remnants of the creative powers of potters long gone, sharing glimpses into their lives. Clay also carries endless possibilities for future creation, limited only by the potter’s experiences and imagination.
My work honours this history whilst reflecting my own life experiences.
How do wheel-throwing and hand-building each serve your ideas differently?
Wheel throwing speaks to the perfectionist in me, while hand building forces me to embrace a freer approach. I often combine hand built and wheel thrown elements into a single piece. I enjoy the juxtaposition of textured and smooth, scarified and serene. Mastering both techniques opens worlds of possibilities.
In what ways does the Australian landscape influence your forms and surfaces?
Bushwalking is something I really enjoy and my husband and I have traveled extensively around Australia. When you live in this harsh, beautiful country you can’t help being influenced and inspired by it. The colours and textures, the influence of drought and the importance of water can be seen in all my work and particularly in my Riverbed series.
What role does patience - or even surrender - play in your practice?
Ceramics is a long slow process, taking up to a month for a single piece. I have had to learnt to be patient which has never been a strong point for me. Luckily ceramics is a great teacher.
Creating a work is a multi step process and clay can be very unforgiving. If you’re not fully present it will punish you. I have watched many pieces collapse on the wheel, or quite literally fly across the room. If a complex piece dries too quickly it can crack. Glazes can misbehave. Every kiln opening is fingers crossed: Will it be champagne ? Or will it be razor blades? There are so many places things can go wrong but when it works out, it gives me a feeling of completeness and satisfaction that is hard to describe.
What does success look like for you at this stage of your career?
Playing in my studio, creating with clay is where I find joy. It’s not just something I want to do, it’s something I have to do. So ‘success’ in a traditional sense isn’t really something I’m chasing.
‘Success’ is creating a piece I am really happy with.
‘Success’ is spending months developing a new glaze or firing technique and finally achieving exactly that finish I was after.
‘Success’ is going for a hike and being struck with inspiration for a new series.
Most of all ‘success’ is when others see something in my work that speaks to them so they enjoy it in their own way, informed by their individual life experiences.
