RACHEAL LARKIN

CERAMICIST | MudHouse Studio

Bio

Racheal Larkin is a Blue Mountains–based ceramic artist with a career spanning over five decades. Beginning her practice in the 1970s after studying in Canberra, she worked as a full-time potter and artist throughout the ’70s, ’80s, and early ’90s, establishing a workshop and gallery in Bungendore and later working as a designer and production potter on the Gold Coast.

Her professional journey has encompassed both studio practice and education. After relocating to Sydney, Racheal completed a Post Certificate at East Sydney Technical College (now the National Art School) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Visual Arts at Sydney College of the Arts. She was a member of the Inner City Clayworkers Cooperative and went on to teach ceramics across TAFE institutions, later serving for eight years as Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of the Ceramics Arts Workshop at the University of Sydney.

Following a period focused on family and business, Racheal has returned to ceramics with renewed energy and perspective. She is now based in Springwood, where she works from a unique bushland studio built within a converted 1940s pool. Her practice centres on functional and vessel-based ceramics that celebrate the relationship between making, use, and everyday ritual.

Racheal is also Vice President of the Blue Mountains Clay Collective, contributing to the vitality and visibility of ceramics practice across the region.

 MudHouse Studio

Artist Statement

Clay has been a constant thread through my life—sometimes at the centre, sometimes waiting patiently in the background. After many years away from full-time practice, returning to ceramics has been both a rediscovery and a revelation.

I work primarily in tableware and vessel forms, creating pieces that are meant to be used, held, and shared. I am interested in the quiet beauty of functional objects—the way a cup sits in the hand, or how a bowl becomes part of a gathering. These everyday interactions carry meaning, and I see my work as contributing to those small but significant moments.

My current studio, set within an old pool and surrounded by bushland, brings me into close contact with the natural environment. This sense of place informs both the pace and the process of my work.

I approach clay with a balance of experience and curiosity—what the Japanese call shoshin, or beginner’s mind. Even after many years, clay continues to challenge and surprise me. It demands attention, patience, and humility, and in return offers endless possibilities for expression.

Above all, I make work to be lived with—objects that invite use, connection, and the simple pleasure of sharing food and time together.

Work

Current Exhibition

Saturday, April 18, 2026 at 10AM — 4PM

Sunday, April 19, 2026 at 9AM — 3PM

2026 Blue Mountains Pottery Fair

Wentworth Falls School Of Arts

The Blue Mountains Pottery Fair returns in 2026 for its seventh year, celebrating the talent, diversity, and creativity of potters from across the region and beyond. Held in the beautifully restored Wentworth Falls School of Arts — an Arts and Crafts era treasure set right on the Great Western Highway — this annual event has become a favourite destination for ceramic lovers, collectors, and curious visitors alike.

RACHEAL LARKIN | CERAMICIST at the BM Pottery Fair