Patricia Millar was born in Belfast and studied Art and Education at Stranmillis College Belfast, graduating in 1988. A former teacher in Nepal and Northern Ireland, she set up her pottery studio in 2015.

Patricia references domestic forms found within the Neolithic and Bronze Age landscape. The potency of ancient vessels preserved in the encroaching landscape inspires not only the form but the methods in which she makes. Local clay and sustainable fuels are gathered from meaningful sites. And using the ancient techniques of pit firing and wood firing, her work is marked with the landscape’s unique colour signature. Her vessels celebrate form, colour and texture of their geological and anthropological origins.

A recipient of funding from the Arts Council NI and Ards and North Down Borough Council, her work has been commissioned by Seamus Heaney’s HomePlace , Bellaghy, The Portico, Portaferry and Signal Business Centre, Bangor. She represented NI in Sweden through the Creative Momentum and won the Margaret Creevy Prize for best in show, SERC.

Exhibitions include the prestigious Collect Open, Royal Ulster Academy annual exhibition, Ceramics Ireland Select members’ exhibition, Dublin, Thrown Contemporary, London and is regular participant in Creative Peninsula, ND Craft Collective, Copeland Collective exhibitions as well as a solo exhibition at the Loft gallery.

Patricia’s work is selected for craft fairs including the Guildhall, Derry, FE. McWilliams Gallery, Banbridge and Festival of Clay, Exeter, Art&, York.

Patricia teaches pit firing courses and gives presentations and demonstrations to Art and Potters’ societies both in NI and England. She featured on BBC’s Countryfile, gave a presentation for Radio 4 GQT and was nominated by CraftNI as “one to watch” on BBC NI The Arts Show.

Continuing to incorporating local materials into her wheel thrown and hand- built forms, her process has developed to include wood firing. Patricia was awarded an Arts Council NI grant to build a wood fired kiln. She is currently building a new studio on the Causeway coast and her work will continue to reflect and use the landscape’s ancient past.