Artist Bio

Hello, I'm Gillian Smith, also known as The Creative Pilgrim. 

My creative journey began in my childhood when I immersed myself in my imagination, creating vibrant worlds on paper. 

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I have worked as a mixed-media artist for many years and have discovered a new way of creative expression through clay.  Discovering a love of pottery while undertaking a Diploma in Visual Art in 2024, I brought my painting sensitivity to surface, tone, and texture in my ceramic practice. 

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My art now bridges painting and pottery, with clay becoming a place where my diverse creative background and passion for process merge into sculptural landscapes as vessels.

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These hand-built vessels evoke geological layering and the traces of time, as I investigate transformation – both within the material and my own creative journey.

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I attempt to initiate a dialogue between colour, texture and earth to form vessels that echo the layered expressive qualities of my paintings and represent the quiet stories held within the Australian landscape.