About
Patricia Millar
Born in Belfast under the shadow of the Cavehill, Patricia's interest lies in the ancient past. A childhood playing around Bronze Age sites, digging clay and making bowls hardened in bonfires, have shaped her ceramic practice of today.
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Site specific locations such as bog land, ice age shoreline and basalt coast offer rich pickings in clays, organics and gravels.
Led by materiality, her work celebrates form, colour and texture of their geological and anthropological origins.
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Relocating from the Ards Peninsula, her new studio and home will be near the village of Lisnagunogue on the famous Causeway Coast route.
Resume
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
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Collect Open, Crafts Council Somerset House, London 2023
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Craft NI Craft NI Gallery Select Exhibition,
2023 Spring Collectors' Showcase, 2023, 22 August Craft Month, 2020 Ceramic Showcase
Ceramics Ireland Select Members’ Exhibitions, Dublin Castle, Cowshed Gallery, Pearce Museum
2022, 21,19, 18, 17, 16, 15
North Down Craft Collective Exhibition North Down Museum, Ards Arts Centre, Griffin Gallery, The Loft Gallery
2023, 22, 20, 18
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Royal Ulster Academy, Ulster Museum
2020, 2015
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Thrown Contemporary Winter Show, London
2020
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Mother Earth, Strule Arts Centre
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Creative Peninsula Principal Exhibition, Ards Arts Centre
2021,19, 18, 17, 16, 15
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Copeland Collective, 3rd, 4th and 5th Wave Exhibitions- Haptik Gallery, Carnegie Library, North Down touring exhibition
2019,17,16
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ForM Sculpture Exhibition, Walled Garden, Bangor
2018,17,16
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Puffin Gallery, Ballycastle
2017
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Five Create @ Studio Eight, Bangor
2017
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Creative Momentum, representing Northern Ireland, The Art Hub, Urkult, Sweden
2016
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Castle Espie Select Exhibition, Nature through Art
2016
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Haptik Gallery, Small Works Show
2016
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Fireland The Loft Gallery
2015
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SOLO EXHIBITION
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Loft Gallery, “Working with the elements”
2017
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AWARDS
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Crafts Potters Association Charitable Trust to attend Kiln building course at Wytham Woods, Oxford University
2023
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Design Craft Council of Ireland, Design Ireland
2022
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Artists Resilience Funding, Arts Council of Northern Ireland
2021
The Potters’ Potter Award, Belfast Potters’ Market
2021
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Arts Council of Northern Ireland Individual Artist Award to build a wood fired kiln
2019
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Individual Artist’s Grant, Ards and North Down Borough Council Wood & soda firing course with Nic Collins & Sabine Nemet, Barn Pottery, Devon
2019
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Work selected for Poster Campaign, The Creative Peninsula, Ards Arts
2019
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Selected Maker for Scarva Pottery Supplies Calendar
2017
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Nominated as “One to Watch” Craft NI for BBC NI The Arts Show
2016
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Representing Northern Ireland, Creative Momentum, Arts Hub, Urkult, Sweden
2016
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Margaret Creevy Prize “Best Achievement in Applied Art” South Eastern Regional College
2014
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RESIDENCES
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Awarded Residency at Ballinglen Arts Foundation , Co. Mayo by Ards and North Down Borough Council
2021
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Copeland Island residency in association with Copeland Island Observatory & Ards Arts
2016
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COMMISSIONS
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Trophies for Signal Business Centre, Young Chef of the Year
2019
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Collaboration with the National Trust, Mount Stewart creating exclusive site specific work for shop
Current from 2018
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"Bogland" Lectern commissioned by Seamus Heaney, HomePlace, The Helicon Theatre
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COLLECTIONS
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2017 Permanent collection of pit fired and Bogland work, The Portico, Portaferry
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PUBLICATIONS & MEDIA
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Selected Collect Open maker to speak at Collect, Somerset House, "Traditions lost, new creativity found"
2023
Featured ceramic artist in "Irish Ceramics, The very best of Irish contemporary ceramics book"
2021
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Guest speaker, West Forest Potters Guild
2021
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Featured artist in Ireland's Homes, Interiors & Lifestyle magazine
2021
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Featured artist, Ceramics Ireland “Celebrating 40 years of maker and community”
2019
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Invited demonstrator, BBC Radio 4 Gardeners’ Question Time
2019
Featured Artist, BBC Countryfile Autumn Special
2018
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Featured artist, Freckle Magazine
2018
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“One to watch” BBC NI The Arts Show
2016
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SELECTED DESIGNER-MAKER
FE McWilliams Gallery
2023
Art in Clay, Farnham
2023
Celebrating Ceramics, Waterperry Gardens
2023
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Potfest, Scotland
2023,22
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Belfast Potter's Market
2023,22,21
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Art on the rails, Project 24, Bangor
2021
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Vault Studios, Belfast
2021
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NCC&G Artisan Craft market, Ballycastle
2021
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CLAY 20: Festival of Clay, Devon
2020
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The Guildhall, Derry Art fair
2019, 18, 17
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FE McWilliams Gallery
2019, 18, 17
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Creative Peninsula
2021, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15
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Turf and Grain Magazine Select Artisan Fair
2019
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Armagh Arts Centre Craft Fair
2018,17
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Etsy Local
2018
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Art&, York
2016
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Creative Hub, Urkult, Sweden
2016
ND Craft Collective, Permanent maker
Present from 2016
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TEACHING, DEMONSTRATIONS, WORKSHOP FACILITATOR
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Current from 2015 Pit Firing workshops from own studio
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Art on the Rails, Project 24, Bangor
2021
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CLAY 20: Festival of Clay, Devon
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Maker Showcase, The Craftroom shop window, Comber
2020
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“Hands Festival” An Creagan Pit firing workshop
2019
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Experimental Archaeology, QUB, facilitator Building a Bronze Age Kiln
2018
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Speaker at Ceramics & it’s future Symposium, Millennium Gallery
2017
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Speaker Creative Trails App launch, Creative Momentum, FE McWilliam’s Gallery
2017
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Demonstrator, Celebrating Ceramics, Oxford
2023
Demonstrator, Seamus Heaney HomePlace Museum
2017
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Demonstrator, Open House Festival, Bangor
2018,17
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Heritage Craft, Pottery Thrower
2018,17
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Creative Peninsula Open Studio Tours
2018,17,16
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Demonstrator Antrim & Larne, Ards & North down Borough Councils
2019,18,17,16
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On-going from 2014 A’Level Art and Applied Art Portfolio work, selected artist and workshop facilitator
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Head of Key Stage 1 & Foundation, Art Co-Ordinator, Comber Primary School
1988-2014
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©Patricia Millar Ceramics 2016. All web content, including written material, images and items for sale are the intellectual property of Patricia Millar Ceramics ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.