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Kristen Miller

Statement

My artwork is influenced by the transient nature of both living and inanimate things. The work may illustrate unseen processes in our bodies or the atmosphere or attempt to capture an image or remember these living and inanimate things as they are changing or fading away. The materials I use reflect these ideas; fragile, discarded fruit wrappers, light and transparent organdy fabric as well as glassine paper, and minute glass beads. Stitching and beading are ways of drawing, generating forms, and measuring time.

For the past few years I've been thinking about an essay by Annie Dillard titled "The Wreck of Time." Posing the question of the relevance of the individual to the multitudes present and past, she quotes statistics of various populations and the historic and nature-driven events that have shaped their outcomes. We are asked to imagine the sheer numbers of people who have gone before us, those who inhabit the world now, and those who will follow. She reminds us of how we humans count and analogizes succeeding generations to waves rising from the sea, "billions of individuals at a time; we see them dwindle and vanish." These vast numbers are reflected in the ideas behind my artwork relating the weight of water and the lightness of air to the space created by the passing of time.