Today we’d like to introduce you to Sally Terrell.
Sally, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I began my career in fashion as a jewelry buyer at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City. There I developed an appreciation for color, proportion, texture, scale, and composition, and ultimately the relationship between an object and its surroundings. From there, I moved into interior design, jewelry making and eventually ceramics—each new form of creative expression expanded my understanding of these principles and taught me to see the world a little differently.
Through Interior design, I became fascinated by the relationship between objects, architecture, light, and space, and by how a single shape or texture can change the character of an entire room. I learned to see beauty in composition.
Jewelry making brought me even closer to the object itself. Working with my hands made me more aware of line, form, balance, and the beauty of imperfection, creating one of kind custom necklaces of curated combinations of metals and gemstones.
I now live in Santa Barbara, California, where I’ve found my way to ceramics. Working with clay feels like a natural culmination of everything I’ve explored before. I allow the material to have a voice of its own. I specialize in hand built, functional, ceramic objects that don’t feel like generic, decorative pottery.
My pieces are raw, earthy, and often a little whimsical. I’m drawn to organic shapes, imperfect edges, and surfaces that reveal the process of making.
Every vessel carries the marks of my hands, and I like that you can see the human touch in each one. There’s a rhythm to working with clay that reminds me of nature—sometimes quiet and simple, sometimes unexpected. For me, that sense of movement, imperfection, and discovery is why I love making art.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Speaking of the unexpected – how about letting go of any control over the outcome of a ceramic piece as it moves through the stages from raw clay, to high fired vitrified clay to final vessel?
In the beginning the challenge was learning the ancient craft of hand building. Then it was learning the dialogue between glaze, clay, and fire. Finally, I have learned to surrender to the unpredictability of this last stage, when heat, glaze, and clay come together to create colors and textures that I can guide but never completely control. In the end, each vessel carries both my intention and a lot of the unexpected.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My entire living environment is an artistic expression of my signature style. My downtown Adobe home is filled with collections, assemblages, curated furniture, unusual objects, and eclectic art. I would call myself an artist/object designer, and a stylist/interior aesthetic creator. My work can function beautifully but also will enhance and uplevel any interior space.
I frequently work as a stylist with interior designers, wedding planners and magazine editors, using my ceramic pieces to create evocative tablescapes and atmospheric event spaces. I love bringing together color, texture, flowers, objects, and surprising details to create a sense of atmosphere and story. Styling has taught me to think about how individual elements interact and how the smallest detail can change the feeling of an entire setting. It’s another expression of the way I see the world—as a composition of color, shape, texture, and mood.
My creative practice is rooted in a fascination with color, texture, organic forms, and objects that make a space feel alive. Mushrooms, petals, creatures, geological textures, and other fragments of the natural world inspire the titles of my pieces. The names have a natural history/found object/Surrealist vocabulary. They are not designed merely to be pretty. They have personality and pull focus.
For example: Flying Disc Urn, Botryoidal Relic Vase, Blue Cluster Vase, Slab Sgraffito Vessel, Sea Urchin, and Creature Candle Holder. My ceramics are available at First Dibs, Gibson-Los Angeles, Upstairs at Pierre Lafond- Montecito.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I like to explore and learn which involves taking risks and creative leaps. Sometimes I fail. But I always learn something from every new experiment.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Sallyterrellceramics
