About
Bio
Sally Mills combines clay and glass to produce unique, handmade art. Intricate, detailed textures are her main inspiration together with the relationship that these textures have when they encounter water.
Working with the contrasts that these two elements create - the dry textured clay and the fluidity, iridescence and depth of colour of the molten glass - creates stunning results.
Her work is a storyboard - connecting with evocative memories, allowing the viewer to revisit a treasured location, emotion or experience.
Travelling and photographic studies of coastal areas from around world is a passion of hers. The memories from these trips inform and inspire her work.
Sally studied Ceramics at Middlesex University. She was taught by Mo Jupp, Emmanuel Cooper and Kate Malone (the ‘Great British Throwdown’ judge). Sally was apprenticed to Kate and it was her bravery with colour and texture that was a significant influence on Sally’s creative development.
Creative Inspiration
Fragments of good times by the sea.......walking across the sand, collecting shells on a beach, climbing over eroded rocks, all with an eye on the sparkling tidal water....
Most of us have these memories and I hope that my artwork will help the viewer to momentarily step back into the depth and vitality of these experiences, even when the sea is out of reach.
I’ve enjoyed over two decades working with clay, inspired by textures found in nature, especially rock formations. Sometimes I found the textures to be arid and weather beaten, crying out for something to soften them but ceramics glazes never quite achieved the evocative impact that the experiences deserved. The flow of glass was the tide of change for my work. It took a couple of years of experimentation to discover how to combine these two conflicting elements, which had rarely been brought together. It has been a passage of pioneering discovery for me. Not only have I found a method to allow clay and glass to creatively unite, but it has also led to an unexpected rekindling of a passion for colour. The transparent depth, molten movement of glass contrasting with the solidity of the clay based coastal textures has endless possibilities for my artistic journey.