The stone sculpture scene in Australia is healthier than most people realise. Beyond the established names, a generation of younger sculptors is working with stone in ways that are technically accomplished, conceptually rigorous, and often deeply connected to place and material.

I have been watching these five artists with particular interest over the past couple of years. They come from different backgrounds and work in different stones, but they share a commitment to the material that goes beyond surface treatment. These are sculptors who understand stone from the inside out.

Sarah Kinchela — Basalt, Western Victoria

Sarah works with Victorian basalt, the dark volcanic stone that covers the Western Plains in sheets and boulders. Her pieces are built around the tension between the stone’s raw, vesicular surface and precisely carved geometric interventions. She leaves large sections of the natural boulder intact, cutting into it with clean planes and sharp edges that reveal the stone’s internal structure.

What strikes me about Sarah’s work is her understanding of negative space. She removes material strategically, creating voids and apertures that change the piece depending on viewing angle and light. She quarries much of her own stone from properties around Camperdown, which gives her an intimate knowledge of the material that shows in every decision.

Daniel Osei — Sandstone, Sydney

Daniel trained in architecture before turning to sculpture, and that background is visible in his work. He carves Sydney sandstone, the Hawkesbury formation that underlies the city, into forms that reference both geological process and built environment.

His technique is meticulous. He works primarily with pneumatic chisels and achieves surface finishes that emphasise the stone’s natural colour banding. Rather than polishing to a uniform surface, he varies his finishing across a single piece, letting some areas show tool marks while others are rubbed smooth. He has been exhibiting at Sculpture by the Sea and is actively researching the geological provenance of his carving stone, tracing blocks back to their quarry beds.

Mei Lin Tan — Marble, Adelaide

Mei Lin works in South Australian marble and Italian Carrara, producing figurative work that sits somewhere between classical tradition and contemporary abstraction. Her figures are never fully resolved. Heads emerge from rough-hewn blocks, limbs dissolve into uncarved stone, and the transition between finished surface and raw material becomes a central subject.

This is not a new idea in sculpture, of course. Rodin and Michelangelo both explored the figure emerging from the block. But Mei Lin’s treatment is distinctly contemporary. Her figures are not struggling to emerge; they are comfortable in their incompleteness. There is a calm in the work that feels genuinely original.

Her technical skill is exceptional. The polished sections of her marble figures achieve a luminosity that demonstrates real mastery of the finishing process. She runs workshops in Adelaide that are consistently oversubscribed, which speaks to both her teaching ability and the appetite for stone carving instruction in Australia.

Jarrah Wilson — Granite, Tasmania

Jarrah works with Tasmanian dolerite and granite, massive, hard, uncompromising stones that demand significant physical effort to carve. His pieces are large, often site-specific, and designed to inhabit landscapes rather than galleries. Several permanent installations in Tasmanian parks and reserves show his ability to place carved stone in natural settings where it feels inevitable rather than imposed.

His carving is minimal. He tends to make a few decisive interventions on a found boulder rather than reshaping the stone entirely. A single cut, a polished face, a drilled aperture. These minimal gestures are sufficient to transform a natural object into a sculptural one, and the restraint required to stop at the right moment is harder than it looks.

Jarrah is also vocal about the ethics of stone sourcing, working with quarry operators and land managers to source material responsibly. In Tasmania, where the landscape carries deep significance, this matters.

Priya Narayan — Limestone, Queensland

Priya carves Queensland limestone into forms inspired by coral reef structures and marine biology. Living in Cairns, her proximity to the Great Barrier Reef informs both her subject matter and her material choices. Limestone, after all, is often composed of the fossilised remains of the same organisms she references in her sculptural forms.

She uses rotary tools and diamond burrs to achieve surface detail that is unusual in stone sculpture, creating textures that mimic coral polyps and brain coral formations. The pieces are beautiful up close and read as abstract organic forms from a distance. Priya has exhibited at Swell Sculpture Festival and has been involved in community art projects in Far North Queensland.

What Connects Them

These five sculptors work in different stones, different scales, and different conceptual frameworks. But they share some qualities worth noting. All of them have a deep knowledge of their chosen material. All of them source their stone thoughtfully. And all of them are making work that could not exist in any other medium. The stone is not incidental to the art; it is the art.

Keep an eye on these five. They are doing important work.