Kristen Miller: Oregon Arts Watch

Spare. Sparse. Space.: Deft hands and dense details
Three artists showing at local galleries ask for your attention, please

By: Graham W. Bell
Published August 16, 2013, in VISUAL ART

Quiet, minimal and softly alluring, the unassuming compositions at three neighboring Portland art spots can flit by you with a second notice. A cursory look around these art exhibitions reveals a couple simple shapes here, a few recognizable objects here; perhaps there’s nothing to hold your attention. It’s the second look, the closer inspection, that really opens your eyes. Amorphous shapes in frames become fervent beadwork. A photo of a sink involves more detail than your eye has ever seen. And through a hole in some rather innocuous fabric, a personal universe expands.

This month, three artists at PDX Contemporary Art, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, and PDX Window Project all create a shroud of simplicity under which some serious substance lies.
Kristen Miller: “Passing Through,” PDX Contemporary Art

A mainstay of PDX’s quietly conceptual roster of artists, Miller’s small-scale work is a testament to subtle visualization of hours spent working. Her meticulously sewn compositions (often white or off-white) waver in the ether at first, relying on the viewer to investigate further in order to fully appreciate them. Once you get up close, though, the realization that each miniscule bead is hand applied and stitched in exacting detail transforms a piece such as “Without Gravity” from a two-tone composition to a multi-faceted visual arrangement. And, while this has been Miller’s trademark, new pieces like “Rising/Settling” move her practice into new territory.

Introducing more visual complexity, “Rising/Settling” and “Untitled” look like before and afters of Buddhist sand paintings: intricate handling that has been scattered to the wind. The added layers of pattern and fabric help to drive home what “Without Gravity” and the other, softer works are getting at; the seeming chaos of “Untitled” is a happy departure from the safe shapes of previous outings.

http://www.orartswatch.org/spare-sparse-space-deft-hands-and-dense-details/