Glenna Mills
Ceramic sculptures
Oakland California

The art of ceramic sculpture is, for me, building an emotional connection between the visible and invisible worlds. My works, as they evolve in the crafting process, become outward representations of figures and archetypes and myth roles that I find living inside me. Because of this, virtually all of my pieces are both planned and unplanned. They are planned in the sense that I start with some general idea for the initial form, whether large or small, seated or standing, two- or four-legged.

But as I work on each piece, some inner demon seems to enter the process, and the character I am creating begins to dictate its own shape, expression, color. Sometimes a surprising set of ears appears, sometimes breasts grow in impossible places, sometimes babies materialize, and they were not my original ideas. Sometimes an initial glazing seems wrong, and the steps I have to take to "correct" it lead me to a true rendition. The details vary, but in the end an inner spirit manifests itself.

Surrounding myself with the faces and attitudes of my figures, therefore, shows me a portal to another world, one where a feminine mystique abounds. The mystique is not about specifically feminist issues, but rather about a magic that seems to spring from nowhere, like a faint mist on a forest floor, and just as ineluctable and impossible to confine. This is the same magic we see in the everyday world when a small group is lost in one another\'s company and the powers of the heart hold sway.