Meet the Team

I worked as an art therapist in hospitals and prisons and ran my own fabric silk screen business for many years before becoming a practising artist in 1992. I have a working studio and show regularly in London. I completed my BA in Fine Art in 2002.

I started teaching in 1995 and have never ceased to find it stimulating, always greatly enjoying the diversity of student work. I like to take a general experimental approach as well as giving individual guidance to encourage personal development.

I paint under the name Bryn Hillier (www.brynhillier.com).

I have been teaching in art colleges, universities and adult education since 2010, specialising in drawing and sculpture. My own artwork is largely inspired by nature and ecology and being outdoors. In 2021 I set up walk.draw to run events that use walking and movement as a way to creatively respond to place.

This experimental way of working is reflected in my teaching. I enjoy sharing a wide range of approaches to different subject matter, from observational to abstract, and encourage individual responses to ways of making artwork.

I am a member of drawing, walking and ecology artist networks, including being a Co-Director of Walking the Land CIC, a Co-Creator at The Museum of Walking and a member of Hyphae Drawing Collective. Alongside my solo practice, I also create and exhibit my work with other artist collectives.

More information about my latest projects can be found at www.ruthbroadbent.com

I graduated in 2001 from Hull school of Art and Design with a degree in Fine Art and have been working in a variety of media for over twenty years. My work takes in impressions and memories as much as it does sketches and scribbled records. Contrasts of texture, tone, shape, and line interrupt the conversation between mark making and white space. There is a dance between application and erasure until a destination is arrived at, allowing historical layers of paint to peak out from beneath the surface. I am always trying to return to places from my memory and the feelings that I associate with them. My paintings are a homecoming, and an act of remembrance as I try to find my way back to these landscapes.

Elemental forces, long ago voices echoing from a tangle of weeds, the drift of early morning fog and the harsh screech of a bird of prey rising on the thermal. These things becoming scratched in paint, a scribbled in pastel or swirled in misty grey layers of acrylic. I love to stretch the limits of paint and see just what it can actually do. With this in mind, I often use mixed media techniques to achieve certain marks and gestures. Paintings are often reworked over and over until a desired effect is achieved. This means that glimpses of previous ideas, forms and scribbles are often visible as the texture builds up on the surface. In 2019 I was the recipient of the JSFineArt award for 2D media at the annual open exhibition at the Heseltine Gallery in Middleton Cheney and in 2021 I received the Mary Moser award from Oxfordshire Artweeks. I have also exhibited widely in Banbury, Oxford and throughout the Cotswolds. Alongside this I am a workshop facilitator, creative enabler and confidence builder who loves to help others find their creative path in life. I run classes and workshops throughout Oxfordshire and the UK.

instagram.com/rachelannecronin
www.rachelcroninartist.com

I’m an independent jewellery designer/maker inspired by the natural world. Animals have always been a huge part of my life and my earliest memories are of studying the garden snails, the silk moths, stick insects, mice, hamsters, rats, cats, dogs, and chickens that were all an important part of my growing up. Nowadays, my garden is a wildlife haven for foxes, squirrels and myriad of different birds, and the name ‘Brock & Willow’ is inspired by the family of badgers who visit my garden every evening. My work is vegan, cruelty free and constructed from sustainably sourced, recycled silver and gold.
I have been teaching silver jewellery making at The Mill Arts Centre for over 10 years. Being able to help my students realise their own ideas and designs is hugely rewarding, and watching them develop their skills makes me incredibly proud.

www.instagram.com/brockandwillow
www.facebook.com/BrockAndWillow
www.brockandwillow.co.uk

I facilitate creative writing courses at The Mill, where we write and either share or discuss work in a way that’s stimulating and challenging, yet also supportive and encouraging. I have a particular interest in writing for wellbeing and hold an MSc in creative writing for therapeutic purposes. I run workshops in this area, with the emphasis on writing for healing and self-discovery.

A widely published short story writer and trained journalist, with over three decades of experience on national magazines, I’ve also had three novels published and provided newspapers, magazines and journals with a broad range of non-fiction contributions, from travel and opinion pieces to articles on the craft of writing.

I have a Level 2 qualification in Digital Skills for Teaching.

www.gabriellemullarkey.co.uk
@authorgabrielle
linktr.ee/gabrielle70

Hello, my name is Laura and I am a photographer from Oxfordshire. I graduated from De Montfort University studying Video, Photography and Film Studies. I then went on to do an Artist in Residency at Oxfordshire School of Creative Arts, where I focused on different alternative photography processes.

I also specialise in silver gelatin printing, camera-less photography and have experience working with wet plate collodion. I am a Co Captain for Folksy South East England and am passionate about promoting British craft and supporting small businesses.

Awards: Bronze Award – Printed Life in Black and White – The Imaging Warehouse – 2014

www.boffinphotography.co.uk
linktr.ee/BoffinPhotography

I like to celebrate and share all our stories through the process of creating art. There is something enjoyable and fulfilling about sitting around a table with others quietly getting on with making stuff. It does not matter if you are a beginner or have lots of experience, we can all make something and enjoy the creative process.

I’ve been working in community art settings for the last 20 years. Other than my work at The Mill, I am also working in hospitals and on other projects around Oxfordshire and further afield.

I won the last Ironstone Open Exhibition at Banbury Museum and have been funded by the Arts Council on a number of projects. When making my own work I use a mixture of painting, drawing, printmaking, animation and digital art.

tomxarts.wordpress.com
www.instagram.com/thomaswcross

For as long as I can remember, I have loved to bake and decorate cakes so when I left school, I studied patisserie and cake decorating at college for three years. After this I set up and ran a successful cake decorating business in the Covered Market in Oxford.

I have held many cake decorating workshops and evening classes over the years. I strongly believe that it is possible to coach all students and give them the knowledge and tools to create great looking cakes and improve their artistic ability and confidence in cake decorating.

In 2020 I sold the business with the aim of concentrating on passing my skills and knowledge to anyone who loves to create sugar works of art. As sugar craft modelling is a transferable skill to other mediums, I also am able to offer workshops with air dry clay and polymer clay.

Website: www.thecaketutor.co.uk
Instagram: the_cake_tutor
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thecaketutor

Catherine has more than ten years of experience teaching and performing improv and sketch comedy, and has studied with teachers from across the world. She is particularly dedicated to introducing more people to the joy and creativity that improv offers. Catherine’s enthusiasm extends to all forms of improv, and she is driven by a strong desire to introduce more people to this amazing art-form.

threethingscomedy@gmail.com

www.instagram.com/threethingscomedy/
www.facebook.com/threethingscomedy/
www.threethingscomedy.com/

An experienced sewist with a special interest in stretch fabrics, Lindsey has sewing in her genes; her great grandmother even made items for Saville Row! With an eye for a bold print and unique design, as well as the accuracy required for classic sewing and tailoring. Whether your sewing machine is fresh out of the box or an old friend, Lindsey will be able to guide and challenge you to create show stopping clothing that fits.

sewstretchsoar@gmail.com
www.instagram.com/sewstretchsoar
https://www.tiktok.com/@sewstretchsoar

Using locally grown flowers and foliage we teach how these can be arranged with natural techniques. Considering the impact on the environment in everything we do in our sustainable approach to floristry.

hello@bunch-uk.com
instagram.com/bunch.uk
www.bunch-uk.com

Emma has a wealth of experience creating art with, and for children having volunteered as a Scout leader for 10 years (and counting!), and before that working in Early Years education. Emma’s youth projects include a community mural painted over three walls of a basketball court, by the Beavers, Cubs and Scouts of Fenny Compton, Warwickshire; and interpretations of Monet’s Waterlillies, Matisse’s Snail and Kandinsky’s decreasing circles created by Emma’s pre-schoolers in ‘Little Artists’ at The Mill.

Emma is a practicing artist, exhibiting throughout the year including for Oxfordshire Artweeks and Warwickshire Open Studios. Her painting style incorporates playful, painterly work with bold colour & strong lines.
Her style and preferred media have evolved over time, and she currently works predominantly with alcohol Inks. These vibrant inks have a brilliance and luminosity which are perfect for evoking the excitement and richness of the natural world.

Emma is passionate about enjoying and protecting nature, and has organised the creation of wildflower meadows in her village. Emma is one of our ‘Mill Environmental Champions’ seeking to help us improve our enviromental contributions. Her classes and artwork often take inspiration from natural themes, where possible re-using pre-loved materials to creative and colourful effect!

https://www.instagram.com/artdecadance
https://www.facebook.com/artdecadance
emmawilkinson.art