Sallie Wakley [Biography]

I was born in Surrey in 1967 but grew up in the West Country. I had an idyllic childhood, which nurtured my love of the countryside and my passion for animals and nature.

In 1986 I came to Wales to study Wildlife Illustration followed by two years of Ceramics by which time I had fallen in love with the wild Welsh hills. In 2002 I bought a tiny little cottage on a wooded hillside in Carmarthenshire, where I also discovered my love of gardening. I share my little house with four rescue dogs - a motley crew - seven gorgeous cats and a dozen or so chickens. It's here that I have built a lovely studio that looks out over the garden.

My work comes from a life long passion for animals and nature. Each piece is as individual as the animals I portray, starting with the clay and glazes that I make from my own recipes to the creature itself which I hand build over a number of days. The huge diversity of animals gives me an ever growing abundance of inspiration.

Sallie has exhibited across Europe and America but now concentrates on work for UK galleries and private commissions.