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Christine K. Miller – Art and Cake

October 8, 2024 - Art

Studio shot by Keith Miller, 2021

Christine K. Miller
Dallas, TX
Age 69

What keeps you excited in the studio?
Working with the wire and pushing to explore more after 30 years of working with it. With every year I explore this process of hand weaving wire into sculptural forms, I continue to find new expressions it is capable of.

Looking back at your trajectory as an artist, how would you say your work has developed?
I’ve spent a lifetime – learning technique and process as a fiber artist and ultimately as a weaver. When I took a workshop to weave with wire in the 90s, it instantly and profoundly changed my weaving career. (I’ve been weaving a total of 50 years). For the next 20 years I ONLY wove with wire as warp. At first I made jewelry, then basketry and vessels. I moved into creating contemporary sculptural forms and bas-relief wall art. After 30 years of weaving with wire, I haven’t scratched the possibilities it holds as an artistic medium and process. I wrote a book in 2023 to keep the technique alive and to pay it forward to future generations. There is no one teaching this particular approach of weaving with wire. It truly captures my heart and soul and I continue to stretch the boundaries of the wire.

What role do you think the artist has in today’s society?
First, to be a truth teller, but doing so through the lens of the artist’s life and the community around them. Sometimes the artist has to bare the truth to foster change, at other times to foster a spirit of hope and turn the mirror of humanity back on the viewer. The artist’s work should be a portal for the viewer to find meaning and understanding through the lens of their own life and experiences. Once the work is released, the artist can guide the viewer with an artist statement, but there must be freedom for interpretation and new narrative paths. The artist can show beauty and pain as though they are two sides of a coin.

What’s the most important advice you could give to an aspiring artist?
Keep going. It can take decades of persistence and growth to get to a place that connects the artist to their soul. If you are truly an artist, you cannot pluck the aspiration from your being – you must create whether you are deemed to be successful or not. It’s important to develop a flexible spirit as you push ahead, paying heed to signposts and keeping your ear to the ground. Ultimately it is your purpose in life and such a gift should be honored.

Does age matter in art? Why or why not?
Age, and the ‘timing’ of ‘success’ can be an alignment of the stars, being in the right place at the right time. But those who dedicate their life to the creation of art, but never know ‘success’ are the artists who continue to grow and dig deeper into their purpose. A young artist can have talent, while an older artist has navigated the river of life over time. I think it comes back to the truth-telling, which can happen at any age.

What can we look forward to from you next?
I am beginning work on an exhibition ‘Weaving a Road to Recovery’ about the relationship between chronic pain and the discoveries neuroscience has made in the last 20 years proving that chronic pain does not ‘live’ in the body, but is in fact in loops of neural pathways that continue to fire thinking the message of pain is protecting the body. 1 in 5 people suffer from chronic pain, and I am one of that statistic. As a retired art educator, I envision this exhibit to be educational as well as inspirational. The woven metal sculptures and wall pieces will reflect the journey of chronic pain and reveal ways to ‘dial down’ the pain and use the neuroplasticity of the brain to their benefit. Through my story and that of others, my hope is that the viewer will discover new strategies and information giving them agency over their body and their health.

Is there anything else you would like to share about being an artist later in life?
I remind myself to run my own race. I have won many awards for my work, which I value, but I feel the drum beat of time and I have so much more to create. I am delving deeper into concepts that I hope will help my fellow man. I am unable to separate the two roles of teacher and artist, as they both inform the other. I feel content even as I step up my pace to keep the work going. It is my life’s work which started when I was 8.

Christinekmiller.com
christinekmillercourses.com
@Christinekmillerfiberartist

Inflammatory, wire and fiber, 7”h x 8”d x 13”w, 2024, photo Gaby Pruitt


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