Patricia MillarCeramics

Patricia Millar trained in art and education at Stranmillis College, taught in Nepal and Northern Ireland, then set up this studio on the site of a former smithy in 2015. She digs local clay from the bog land, ice-age shoreline and basalt coast around Bushmills, adding rushes and gravels found on site before firing pieces in pits and brick kilns fuelled by seaweed and native wood, a method drawn from Bronze Age practice. A covered outdoor area shelters the kilns and doubles as a teaching space for courses in pit firing, barrel firing, smoke firing and the Obvara technique, run for small groups across one and two-day sessions. A small gallery beside the workshop shows finished pieces, their surfaces marked by the specific colours of the local landscape. Visits and workshops are by prior arrangement.