Biography

‘Karl Millard’s work has focused on the production of sculptural and organic forms for small, hand-held objects, jewellery and hollowware, using his own technique of casting different metals into patterns before using them to create objects. The resulting objects are a tour de force of craftsmanship, material complexity and ingenuity, designed to engage and delight the viewer and user with their anthropomorphic forms that invite the hand and tell us how they are to be used. Patchywallop is a functional object for holding and grinding pepper, designed to be passed from one user’s hand to another’s, and to rest casually on the table between uses’
(from ‘Transformations’ exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Australia, 2005)

Born in Melbourne in 1962, Karl Millard completed a Bachelor of Fine Art and Craft at Chisholm institute of Technology (now Monash University) in 1983, majoring in Gold and Silversmithing. He completed a Master of Arts by Research at RMIT University in 2001.

Millard has worked as a freelance Jeweller and Metalsmith since 1987. During that year he spent two months in Chang Mai, Thailand working at a Silversmithing Workshop and in 1988 he established the Whitehall Artists Collective in Footscray, exhibiting at the Linden Art Gallery in St Kilda. As a Consultant Blacksmith and Performer, he worked on the Urban Construction Theatre Project in Melbourne’s City Square in 1990, and was later involved with Dance Works’ Vaga Bonds & High Flyers at the Melbourne Festival.

In 1993 Millard received the first of several Arts Grants from the Australia Council’s Visual Arts and Craft Board, resulting in a studio residency in Italy. In 1996 he received a project grant from Vic Arts and corporate sponsorship, and held his third solo exhibition, Frottage, at the Craft Victoria Gallery. Frottage 2 was exhibited the same year at Malaysia Mara Institute of Technology, Shah Alam, Malaysia.

Millard received The Commonweallth Foundation Award, England, in 1999, and was awarded a six month residency in India; his solo exhibition Down a South Indian Road was held at the Chennai Museum (Madras) the following year.

In 2000 Millard’s work was included in an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, titled Australian Silver – Contemporary Australian Silversmithing. His work has also been exhibited at The National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery, Regional and other public and private galleries in Australia, and the Shanghai Museum, China.

His work is held in major collections throughout Australia including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery, Art Gallery of South Australia, Alice Springs Art Gallery, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Regional Galleries and the Victorian State Craft Collection.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2000 Down a South Indian Road, Chennai Museum, Chennai (Madras), India.
1996 Frottage 2, Malaysia Mara Institute of Technology, Shah Alam, Malaysia.
Frottage, Craft Victoria Gallery, Australia.
1995 Points of Contact, Sensoria, Melbourne, Australia.
1992 Recent Fine Metal Jewellery, Linden Gallery, St Kilda, Australia.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2005 Transformations, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
2003 International Mokume Gane Symposium, Exhibition RMIT University, Project Space
Hermanns Art Award, Touring Show: Victoria and NSW.
Construct, Dantes Gallery, Melbourne, Australia.
2002 Down Street Studios, Yarra Sculpture Space, Melbourne, Australia.
2001 Transitions, Project Space, RMIT University, Australia.
4 Sided Triangle, Down Street Studios, Yarra Sculpture Space, Melb, Australia.
2000 2000 International Frankfurt Craft Triennale, Frankfurt, Germany.
Australian Silver, Contemporary Australian Silversmithing, The Victoria and Albert Museum, United Kingdom.
2000 Colonial to contemporary: a decade of collecting Australian decorative arts and design,
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia.
Metalloid, duo exhibition Hamilton Art Gallery, Australia.
1999 Metalloid, duo exhibition Victorian Artist Society, Australia.
Magnetic, Brisbane City Gallery, Queensland and Object, Sydney, Australia.
Organic: Sculptural Form/ Natural Landscape, McClelland Gallery, Victoria.
1997 Cicely and Colin Rigg Craft Award, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.
Contemporary Vessels and Jewels, Shanghai Museum, China and Queensland Art Gallery, Australia.
1994 Group Exhibition, Sensoria, Melbourne, Australia.
1992 Directions, Cutlery Exhibition, High Court of Australia, Canberra, Australia.
1991 First Australian Contemporary Jewellery Biennial, Australian Capital Cities, Contemporary Jewellery
Gallery, Woollarha, Australia.
1990 Whitehall, Adelaide Arts Centre, SA, and Mt Gambier Arts Centre, SA, Australia.
La Boutique Fantastique, Adelaide Arts Festival, Adelaide Arts Centre, Australia.
1989 W.E., Whitehall Enterprises Group Show, Linden Art Gallery, St Kilda, Australia.
1988 A Room to View, Whitehall Enterprises Group Show, Linden Art Gallery, St Kilda, Australia.
1987 Mosaics and Iron, Bern Emmerichs & Karl Millard, Devis Gallery, Sth Melbourne, Australia.
1986 Persona, Group Show, Rhumbaralla's Gallery, Fitzroy, Australia..

AWARDS AND COMMISSIONS

2001 Development Grant, Visual Arts and Crafts Board, Australia Council.
1999 The Commonwealth Foundation Award, England, 6 month residency in India.
1998 Project Grant, Visual Arts and Crafts Board, Australia Council.
1996 Project Grant, Vic Arts, Australia.
Corporate Sponsorship, Van Leer International Packaging, Australia.
1995 Project Grant, Visual Arts and Crafts Board, Australia Council.
1993 Studio Residency- Italy, Visual Arts and Crafts Board, Australia Council.

COLLECTIONS

National Gallery of Australia
Art Gallery of South Australia
National Gallery of Victoria
Hamilton Art Gallery, Victoria
Queensland Art Gallery
Alice Springs Art Gallery, Northern Territory
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
Toowoomba Regional Gallery, Queensland
Victorian State Craft Collection
Private Collections

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