Karen Millar

Next week I head off across Oz to Canberra to attend my ANU ceramics course. I can't wait to reconnect with the teachers and my 'distance' friends, many of us stay in touch via email, Facebook and SMS. Now, for the first time in my experience there will be another West Australian artist coming along too. To my great delight Karen Miller, http://www.sodaresidency.com/Karen_Millar.php who has studio space at Fleur Schell's SODA will be there too and has already been'chatting' and making pals on ANU's WebCT webspace. Now you've checked Karen out, go back to the site and have a good look around at what fantastic work Fleur makes and the opportunities she creates for residencies at SODA.
http://www.sodaresidency.com while Fleur's own website is being upgraded http://www.fleurschell.com/
Last Christmas at SODA's 'Gift' Sale I bought a Fleur Schell bowl for special pal (who is lucky I managed to part with it), and something lovely for me ... one of Karen's ceramic wallpieces of a Moroccan style Hand of Fatima full of decorative motifs and scrummy deep turquoise glaze. The symbol is said is to ward off the evil eye - five fingers in the eye to blind the jealous or malevolent person. I find it more friendly than actually threatening mmmm. With three sons, hand signs and symbols are 'big' in my house - though not always appropriate. Here is Gaelan posing with Karen's work ..... Gaelan has Down Syndrome, and with that came hypotonia (low muscle tone) in his hands, fortunately his favourite activity clay work is a brilliant therapy with this. We are home sick with 'bad tolds'.
Karen is a great experimenter and driven to 'make' whether it is her lovely ceramic work or her fused glass work - something else I have in common with her. We cross paths often, most recently at a Curry Night at Fleur's when Somchai Charoen came from the Eastern States to Perth Studio Potters, to teach an enormously popular mould making workshop. http://www.ceramicartswa.asn.au/pottery_groups.php
I am certain Karen is going to have a total blast in Canberra. It is an immersion in all things clay, with likeminded folk, and feels like a working holiday. When I'm there I often can't sleep as my mind is buzzing with what I've learnt, ideas forming from slideshows, demos and the people I meet. Maybe it is the clang of pennies 'dropping' in terms of what I am researching and learning that keeps me awake. I don't mind that this reads like an infomercial for the ANU Distance Diploma Course - it is precisely what I need and delivered in a way I can access -flexibly. Karen I hope it works for you too ;-D