Meet the Artist: Sandy Miller, Sandy Miller Pottery
By Kelli Comer
When you are passionate about something, that passion is evident in your daily life, your personal interests and, if you’re lucky, your livelihood. Local artist Sandy Miller found her passion in pottery, after years of dabbling in other careers and art forms.
Sandy started her professional life as a park ranger in Ohio State Parks, which led to her second career in estate gardening around the Cleveland area.
Additionally, Sandy had been making baskets and participating in several local craft festivals throughout Northeast Ohio. She quickly realized she could not weave fast enough to make this a full-time vocation and decided to take a clay class at a local community college. Over time, Sandy figured out that her artistic hobby was much more than that—it was a lifestyle.
“Working in fiber as a basket maker early on, my eye and hands became trained to form. After several years of weaving in fiber, I decided to make a transition to clay,” Sandy explains.
“Spending several years producing a line of functional work, it became apparent there were other pots to be made. The basket maker and the potter soon joined and became the artist.”
In 2006, Sandy realized she could combine her weaving skills with her throwing skills and a new line of sculptural work started to emerge. Sandy continues to make both lines of work and she enjoys developing the glazes for each of these distinctly different lines.
According to Sandy, the making of pots can be both physically and mentally demanding, while the weaving becomes very methodical, introspective and quiet.
Her final work is a testament to both art forms exclusively, peacefully amalgamating them into something tangible.
“The challenge of pushing the clay and expanding the body of the vessel to complete fullness never grows old. Weaving with waxed linen, tree roots, metal, etc. to finish the final piece is still a way to honor my beginnings in the fiber arts more than 30 years ago,” she says.
To reach Sandy, you can email her at miller18@icloud.com or call 440-357-9021. Her current work is available at Gingko Gallery in Oberlin, Millstone Mercantile in Olmsted Falls and River Gallery in Rocky River. Visit her website at SandyMillerPottery.com to learn more about the artist and her work.