Banner artwork: Vociferous Transmission by Liz Miller, a mixed media installation (dimensions variable). Exhibited at The Soap Factory in Minneapolis, MN, 2006. (Photo: Rik Sferra, reprinted and cropped for access+ENGAGE with permission of the artist)
About her work, the artist writes: "Inspired by systems that contain examples of simultaneous order and chaos, my mixed media, wall-based installations reference biology, natural disasters, and computer imagery. vImagined interactions between disparate systems, and the unpredictable outcomes of such encounters, provide a point-of-departure for works that divulge equal parts fact and fi ction. The systems that appear in my work are hybrids, borrowing freely from a wide range of existing patterns and departing from them at will. Saccharine colors and intense repetition seduce the viewer, subscribing to an underlying logic that allows playfulness to lead to sinister conclusions. Beauty and whimsy are catalysts for events that are increasingly aggressive. The initial logic of inventive and seemingly coherent systems is called into question by their untimely demise as they explode, disintegrate, and morph into new forms. In this manner, I comment on both the inherent failures and possibilities that result as we struggle with a world that is increasingly complex and multi-layered."
About the artist: Liz Miller received her MFA from the University of Minnesota in 2005. Recent solo exhibitions featuring Miller's large-scale installations include Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art (CO), Sioux City Art Center (IA), and Mercer Union (Toronto, Ontario, CAN). She has participated in group exhibitions at venues including the South Bend Regional Museum of Art (IN) Fieldgate Gallery (London), and The Soap Factory (Minneapolis). Miller recently completed a residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, NE, and is the recipient of a 2007 MCAD/Jerome Foundation Fellowship. Upcoming solo exhibitions include the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia (June 2008) and Harcourt House (Edmonton, Alberta, CAN, March 2009). Currently, she has work on display at the Mercer Union in Toronto and at the Sioux City Art Center in Iowa through 2010.
Liz Miller lives and works in Good Thunder, Minnesota and teaches drawing at nearby Minnesota State University-Mankato. You can see more work by this artist and keep up with her exhibition schedule by visiting either her mnartists.org portfolio or her website.