My Very Own Bone Intervetion

In February of 2013 I made my debut as a soccer player for the team Help Wanted, the lowest ranked co-ed team in a local social league. The weekly games were a real highlight; I was catching on faster than in any other athletic endeavor, my teammates were a lot of fun to be around, and the exercise was the BEST! After three exciting months my position on the team ended with a swift kick. 

May 1st, 2013:

A few days later I had surgery, my wrist was set back into place with the help of a titanium plate and six screws. Even though I was really sad that my soccer season ended prematurely, my body now resembles my artwork! Modern medical technology merged with my biological body and I could not be more excited. It was truly amazing, five days after my surgery the bandages came off and I barely had to wear a splint because these little pieces of METAL were holding everything in place as my body healed itself.

One theme explored in my work is the idea that humans have developed physiological dependencies on modern technologies. Many of my pieces made in the past four years look like mechanical devices attached to the body or offer an interface for the body. Each piece implies a function partially seen or heard, leaving part of the function to the imagination.

In late 2011 I made two pieces called Bone Interventions (below) that are included in Laurie Beth Clark's Ossuary project (recently exhibited at Herron School of Art & Design in Indianapolis). When I met with the surgeon the morning before the surgery I could not help but compare notes on working with bones.

 

I often wonder how natural selection will fare in the glow of modern science and technologies. Whenever I begin to question my art studio practice I read another article or listen to another podcast on related topics, or look down at the three-inch scar on my left arm, and think "nope, the concepts are too interesting".

I left Madison for Philadelphia

My last post noted my new-as-of-early-2013 studio. A broken wrist, a shift in employment, and a leap of faith later I have a new-as-of-September-2013 studio in Philadelphia.

The studio is located in an old yarn-dyeing factory called Globe Dye Works that is being renovated into a variety of spaces for artisans and businesses.

This studio is where I have been running with a new series of work called Implants/Accessories. This series incorporates fabric, metal interfaces, rubber, and plastics into seemingly wearable sculptures. Below is the second from this series Implant/Accessory 2.

I am excited to up the scale of the bags and outfit some architecture with a few soon!

New Studio, New Plans

This is my first month in a new studio space. No longer am I in a basement or make-shift work area! This is a legitimate studio with more square feet to my name than I have ever had. As I settle in, relocate tools & materials, and adjust my routine I am making notes of all of the projects I can accomplish here. More to come...

  

The hammer on the left was made by my Grandfather and has D. Miller stamped into it. The one on the right is just like my dad's hammer that he has used for as long as I can remember. He built our house with it, helped build my sister's house with it, and this is my copy.

What, Wear Exhibition November 2012

This weekend is the opening of the What, Wear exhibition at the Brooklyn Metal Works Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. I will have new and work on display along side, once again, Amelia Toelke.

Sculpture Harvest at the MILK FACTORY

The last weekend in August I participated in a show called Sculpture Harvest at the Milk Factory Gallery in Chicago. The gallery duals as an apartment with a rich history. It has been the home of circus performers, musicians, and artists for ten or more years now. Located at 907 North Winchester Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, the gallery is an energetic space for art, film and performance. The artists running the venue are generous and working hard to promote the arts in the area by drawing in a crowd of visitors one weekend a month as they sacrifice their living space for the greater good. You can view images from the show on their Facebook page.

Participating artists included:

Aristotle Georgiades, Gail Simpson, Brian Murer, Amelia Toelke, Andrea Miller, Kelsey Zigmund, Dara Benno, and Jeff Pokash

Metalsmith Magazines 2011 Exhibition in Print

I am excited to be a part of this year's Metalsmith: Exhibition in Print. My piece Conditioner was included among the work of 29 other artists and metalsmiths in the field. The jurors for this year were Lola Brooks and Cindi Strauss who chose works based on the theme of "FRESH."


The cover of the magazine features Amy Tavern's work. I had the privilege of meeting Amy last fall at Penland School of Crafts. I really like the design of her pieces and the materials she combines in them. I admire her studio practice as it involves an honest love of materials, some precious but many are not so precious, as well as a dedicated drawing practice. For my MFA exhibition I commissioned her to make me a necklace to wear for my opening (see image, right.)

The works selected for this exhibition in print will be on display at the Metal Museum in Memphis, Tennessee December 9, 2011 - March 4, 2012.

The other makers featured in this year's exhibition are:
Stevie B.
Suzanne Beautyman
Nikky Bergman
Jim Bové
Sidney Caldwell Deaghlan
Namu Cho
Gabriel Craig & Amy Weiks
Jennifer Crupi
Adriane Dalton
Anja Eichler
Aliyah Gold
Kevin Hughes
Minwon Kim
Andrew Kuebeck
Robert Longyear
Timothy McMahon
Edgar Mosa
Seth Papac
Mary Hallam Pearse
Ryan Thomas Peters
Sara Pfau
Devin Ragotzy
Katie Rearick
Sondra Sherman
Natlie Smith
Stephanie Tomczak
Jennifer Trask
Andrea Wagner

Photographer Extraordinaire - JIM ESCALANTE

Documenting work is a necessary part of my art practice and is a big challenge for me. I have been fortunate enough to find various people to help me attend to this daunting task. For the past three years I have had the pleasure of working with and learning from Jim Escalante, a professor and dean at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He is an incredibly generous and fun person to work with. His skills are proof of his hard work and dedication to photography.

At the end of May Jim re-photographed two of my Regulation Parts made in the spring of 2010 as well as the Handheld Devices from my MFA exhibition. These pieces will be featured in an upcoming publication that will be announced later this year or early 2012. The images I have included with this post are of Regulation Parts #1 & 2. The models are Prudence Yungerman (above, left,) Lauren Peterson (above, right,) and Nkiru Nwachukwu (below.)

Biennial 26: South Bend Museum of Art

Biennial 26: A Window Into Contemporary Midwestern Art

On view June 18 - September 11, 2011
South Bend Museum of Art | Warner Gallery








Exhibition reception: Friday, July 1, 2011 | 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Artists' panel at 6:00 p.m.; remarks by juror Betsy Carpenter

This exhibition features the work of twelve Midwest artists selected by juror Betsy Carpenter, Curator of Visual Arts/Permanent Collection, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

The exhibition is, as its title suggests, a window into contemporary Midwestern art, and provides a "core sample" of current artistic practices, offering insight into something vast and complex via a relatively small representative group. Visitors to the exhibition will be treated to a vast cornucopia of ideas, techniques and styles, and will emerge with a broader knowledge of contemporary artistic practices and thought.

In her Juror's Statement, Carpenter remarks:
"...there is a very Pollock-like all-over sensibility to much of the work on view that through the use of light, texture, patterning and color suggests the complete dissolution of the edges of the artworks and a continuousness of the imagery that seems to move in all directions simultaneously."
"...still other artists in the exhibition have mediated or hinted at (reality) through images and objects that intuit experience, memory, doubt and transformation."
"Each artist has created a singular body of work that makes a formal statement, revels in materials or process, and in some cases, carves out a conceptual territory all its own."

The Biennial is open to all artists residing in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin; these twelve were selected from among hundreds of entries. By deliberately limiting the selection, each artist is able to exhibit a greater body of work.

The following artists were selected by Carpenter from a pool of 279 submitting artists:

· Eleanna Anagnos (painting and sculpture) of Lake Forest, Illinois
· Michele Corazzo (painting and drawing) of Chesterton, Indiana
· Dana Depew (painting) of Cleveland, Ohio
· Ghosh (video installation) of Athens, Ohio
· Joyce Haughey (mixed media collage) of Trafalgar, Indiana
· Lori Larusso (painting) of Lexington, Kentucky
· Andrea G. Miller (sculpture) of Madison, Wisconsin
· Judith Mullen (painting and sculpture) of Wheaton, Illinois
· Ben Pond (drawing) of Toledo, Ohio
· Michael Bill Smith (painting and installation) of Ogden Dunes, Indiana
· José Velazco (photography) of South Bend, Indiana
· Michael Willett (painting and installation) of Champaign, Illinois

EXCHANGES & RETURNS Statement & Installation Photos

EXCHANGES AND RETURNS

My work reconstructs and interprets industrially made parts to accommodate the human body and symbolize human functions within the modern world. Elements are altered in scale and setting and positioned in a way to interface with the body. Coated in sanitary white, they suggest cleanliness and institutional authority.

The elements of our constructed environment on which my sculptures are based are designed for function and practicality. This allows them to blend into our surroundings as they guide and regulate the movement of energy, electricity, water, fuel, traffic, and human beings. We rely on them for certain truths – if you turn the knob you get water, if you open the vent you will be warm. Because of their role in the built environment and our physiological and our psychological dependence on them, they have become fragments of us and define our culture.

I find beauty and pleasure in looking at and understanding these constructed systems. They invoke our faith in them through their design and implementation, inviting complicity because of their seamless integration into our lives. The sculptures draw on familiar characteristics of systems that are meant to sustain our way of life. The work deviates from the ordinary just enough to appear as something vaguely unfamiliar, leading us to question that which is known a priori and what we accept as truth.

For more images, visit my website www.andreagracemiller.com

Photographs by Jim Escalante

Exchanges & Returns

My MFA exhibition will be on display APRIL 18 - 21, 2011 at the Lofts Gallery, Madison, WI

A reception will be held Saturday, April 16th from 6 pm to 8 pm in conjunction with Amelia Toelke's show Capsized

The past three years of graduate school have been a roller coaster of experience and emotions. I am excited to be ending my time as a student at the University of Wisconsin's Art Department with this body of work. This work is a testament to my interest in sociological phenomena and my rather optimistic view of humanity.