Arantza González Machuca

Vessel - Seashell ash glaze on stoneware

Arantza González (b.1995) is a Chilean artist currently living and studying in London. She spent three years at Escola Massana in Barcelona, where she obtained her BA in Mural Arts. She is now studying for an MA in Ceramics & Glass at the Royal College of Art, where she has been specialising in glazes made from natural resources, such as seaweed and seashells collected on the Chilean coast.

Arantza's pieces are a testimony to the environment in which her materials are found, and they give an account of a transformed reality that brings us closer to nature at its most elemental.

Through my practice, I seek to merge two things that allow me to feel more strongly the interaction between my being and the environments I exist in. Two factors that shape my identity are: I am someone who suffers from anxiety disorders, which in many cases interferes with my life and the work I do. And also that I grew up in a natural environment, in the Chilean countryside, that I managed to become part of as I developed. The reminiscences of my early childhood, when I strongly identified with nature, helps me find meaning and are part of who I am today. This is why, at this moment in my life, it is at the potter's wheel that I find the peace that my mind requires so that I can express myself. In natural glazes, that expression gives meaning to my deepest connections with the environment.

I hope that my creations show respect for the place where their materials were sourced, and at the same time bring their users closer to a simple and sincere bond with the natural elements from where I belong: the Chilean coast.