Clare Millar
Clare Millar is a writer who fell in love with molten glass in 2019. Since 2021, she has been a regular trainee at Ruth Allen Glass, working with Ruth, Nick Doran Adams and Juniper Maffescioni to hone foundational skills in glassblowing. In 2023 she was a participant in Corey Pemberton’s workshop at the Corning Museum of Glass, and Tom Rowney’s cane masterclass at the Jamfactory in 2024. Her practice is centred around writing about proprioception and how the skills of glassblowing come into the body’s subconscious, articulating where the magic happens in glassmaking, and documenting the living history of Australian studio glass. As such, she is working to develop a varied skillset in the field of glass.
Gourd , 2025. Bullseye murrini glass, blown and sandblasted, 170 H x 90 W x 70mm D. Photographed by Fred Kroh.
Pain/Relief, inspired by lived experience, uses a depiction of a big pharma logo to explore how chronic pain interferes with daily life, and the reliance on pharmaceutical technology and government bureaucracy in order to lead a normal and rewarding life. The depths of pain and its resulting limitations – both in the present and the perceived future – are considered as dark all-encompassing squares, with light surrounding as a saviour.
Gourd follows a new direction, exploring the possibilities of Bullseye sheet glass as lines and squares, turned and coupled together. Combining murrine to form checkerboards, Gourd explores the quirky and trippy aesthetic of the early 2020s, applying the bright visuals of contemporary fast consumption culture to traditional and slow forms of artmaking.
Pain/Relief, 2025. Bullseye murrini glass, blown and sandblasted, 160 H x 95 W x 65mm D. Photographed by Fred Kroh.
