Gillian was born in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Weymouth, MA. She graduated from Boston University with a BA in chemistry. Her journey with clay began in 1995 with a wheel throwing class offered through Parks and Recreation in Chapel Hill. After spending a year taking courses towards a MFA in ceramics at East Carolina University, Gillian returned to Durham where she currently has a studio. She was chosen by Ceramics Monthly Magazine as one of 13 Emerging Artists in 2008, featured as a cover artist in the February 2009 issue and written for Pottery Illustrated Magazine. Her work is in numerous public and private collections including the San Angelo Museum of Art and the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC.
Fine bone china and porcelain are frequently associated with treasured heirlooms that are passed down between generations. My association with porcelain stems from early childhood summer trips to visit my grandmother in Northern Ireland, where she would take me to local china shops to buy small porcelain souvenirs. As I pursued my ceramic education, and started working with porcelain, these memories came to the forefront to influence both my techniques and directions.
My current work combines elements of manufactured porcelain and Japanese pottery, particularly Shigaraki and Imari ware. Fine porcelain is highly processed and purified, mass-produced, and fired in a controlled manner using saggars, effectively removing any evidence of an individual artist. In contrast, Shigaraki ware is typically handmade stoneware with feldspar inclusions fired in an anagama kiln, the only decoration coming from the randomness of wood ash. Imari is highly decorated porcelain that was for the export market. My surface designs focus on the Imari ware patterns and motifs used to meet aesthetic tastes outside Japan.