Artist's Statement
As an artist, I'm delighted with surprises that come from the unconscious. I enjoy starting off with one
idea and watching it turn out to be something else. I've argued with clay and often lost. Sometimes a
female refuses to let out the male that I thought I was making. Sometimes a character refuses to sit.
And sometimes what I'm working on decides the life I wish to give it is not the life it wants and it takes a
dive off the table. I might like the shape left on the floor, or I sweep it up. Either way, the adventure is
delightful.
The same holds for painting. Once the image is on canvas, the size alone demands attention. It is always
exciting for an artist to have whatever you are working on surprise you. The canvas sits on the easel as
you enter the room waiting for you to react. Paint, brushes, pens tremble with excitement, ready to
tease you into daring new ideas. And so you do.
Biography
Born in Idaho, I never got the dust out of my shoes. As the ditches filled with water in the spring and
summer, I’d dangle my feet to feel the slime between my toes. One day I grew up and took the mud and
made a creature that no one had ever seen before. This was the beginning of my career in ceramic
sculpture. I went off to the University of Minnesota and earned an MFA in art, which led me to painting,
filmmaking, and photography.
I entered competitions, filled the auditorium at Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, had a film placed in
the Belgium Archives, showed my work in galleries, and traveled to gather more images. I settled down
to one form of art, clay sculptures. Those creatures that I first felt and then created became my
signature. As one example of my creative response to world events, when the war started in Iraq, the
sculpture I was working on blew its head off and exposed the bloodied ribs below. How appropriate, I
thought. I then made thin, softened bodies of those who had died in the explosion and had them crawl
out the neck. Clay showed me devastating defeat, love, magic, and the abnormalities we witness in our
lives.
In 2021, we moved to a smaller place, which had a wide open garage, room to expand into another area
of art. I had collected, over many years, photographs which I had begun to transform into painings by creating
distortions and adding other images, as well as color and scribbles. I decided to enlarge the end product. Using
canvas as a backing to the images, I was able to continue the alterations in the photographs. Painting!
I had a new project and it was so fast. In no time, I began painting with acrylics.
Resume
Education
Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Minnesota
Master of Fine Arts, University of Minnesota
Collections
I’m in several private collections in Idaho, Colorado, California, Oregon and Minnesota
Awards
Merit Award, Faces Art Show, July 2023
Finalist Award, Circle Foundation for the Arts, July 2023
Exhibtion Winner, Artist Space Gallery
Grand prize winner for the ROOTS competition, Nerissa Bardfeld, judge; Gallery Arte Azulejo, New York, September 2022
Acrylic Paintings
Grey Loft Gallery April 2023
Fusion Art Women Artists International Competition October-December 2022
Uma Gallery Show October-November 2022
AWA group show February 2022
Pop Up gallery group show November 2021
Sun Gallery group show October 2021
Clay sculptures
Shows
Mother’s Cheekbone, private studio tours
Galleria Tempest, San Francisco, CA
ProArts, Oakland, CA
Firehouse Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Frank Bette Gallery, Alameda, CA Director’s Award
Best of Show Rosenthal Gallery, Caldwell, ID
Cross Currents 2011, Alameda, CA 2011, 2012, 2013,2014,2015,2016
CK Gallery, Piedmont, Oakland, CA 2012, 2013
Gray Loft Gallery, Jingletown, Oakland, CA 2012
The Love Show, February (Dancing Couples)
Sun Gallery, Hayward, CA Going West , 2012
ProArts, Oakland Open Studios, June 2012 and 2014
Sun Gallery, Hayward, CA Portraits, Anything goes June 2012, 2013, 2014
Artslant.com 2nd place 2012 Showcase Winner (Second Opinion); 3rd place 2012 Showcase Winner (Sliding Away)
CK Gallery, Elephant in the Room, Aug. 2012
Art on the Balcony, June, July, August 2013: Aaron, First Place, June 2013
SeeMeNYC 2014 projected my sculptures on Times Square Building
Contact
glenna@well.com
510-418-6100
Specifications and prices available on request.
Glenna Mills
3250 Blandon Road
Oakland, California 94605510-418-6100
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