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F. Charlotte Austen - Distentio
Bronze and cast stone pigment
Dimensions vary
Distentio is Augustine's word for the soul stretched across time, pulled between memory, expectation and the present moment. He saw this stretching not as a flaw but as the condition of being human.
The stones are memory. They began as pebbles from the Cornish coast, Carboniferous killas some 300 million years old, gathered from the shore and then returned, because they were never mine to keep. What remains are their casts in white stone: the shape of a thing once the thing itself has gone.
The steps are expectation, worn smooth by people climbing toward something, each step anticipating the next. Against that climb, stones and feathers tumble downward, step by step, as time always falls away from us even as we reach ahead.
The feathers are the present moment, caught mid-fall and never landing. A feather is among the most fleeting things in nature; cast in bronze, that passing instant is made to endure. Each one is sculpted and formed by hand, so no two are alike, and cast by the lost wax process.
Each stone carries a feather, and more lie loose on the steps between them. Some feathers have worn hollows into the stones beneath them, as countless footsteps have worn the steps themselves. Something light, repeated for long enough, wears down something hard. The present, again and again, becomes the shape of the past. All of it is time.
Made for the weather as much as for the quiet of an interior, Distentio and its individual pieces can be installed outside or in.
Please note that delivery is not included in the price. Delivery costs will be the responsibility of the buyer. The delivery method and payment will be arranged with Parker Harris after purchase, and Parker Harris will contact all buyers once their purchase is complete. Buyers will not receive the work until after the exhibition at Wells Cathedral closes on Saturday 7 November 2026. Works can be collected from Wells Cathedral on Sunday 8 or Monday 9 November 2026, 9.30am–4.30pm.
Bronze and cast stone pigment
Dimensions vary
Distentio is Augustine's word for the soul stretched across time, pulled between memory, expectation and the present moment. He saw this stretching not as a flaw but as the condition of being human.
The stones are memory. They began as pebbles from the Cornish coast, Carboniferous killas some 300 million years old, gathered from the shore and then returned, because they were never mine to keep. What remains are their casts in white stone: the shape of a thing once the thing itself has gone.
The steps are expectation, worn smooth by people climbing toward something, each step anticipating the next. Against that climb, stones and feathers tumble downward, step by step, as time always falls away from us even as we reach ahead.
The feathers are the present moment, caught mid-fall and never landing. A feather is among the most fleeting things in nature; cast in bronze, that passing instant is made to endure. Each one is sculpted and formed by hand, so no two are alike, and cast by the lost wax process.
Each stone carries a feather, and more lie loose on the steps between them. Some feathers have worn hollows into the stones beneath them, as countless footsteps have worn the steps themselves. Something light, repeated for long enough, wears down something hard. The present, again and again, becomes the shape of the past. All of it is time.
Made for the weather as much as for the quiet of an interior, Distentio and its individual pieces can be installed outside or in.
Please note that delivery is not included in the price. Delivery costs will be the responsibility of the buyer. The delivery method and payment will be arranged with Parker Harris after purchase, and Parker Harris will contact all buyers once their purchase is complete. Buyers will not receive the work until after the exhibition at Wells Cathedral closes on Saturday 7 November 2026. Works can be collected from Wells Cathedral on Sunday 8 or Monday 9 November 2026, 9.30am–4.30pm.