Amada Miller: The Absurdity of the Fact of Us
December 1 , 2018 – February 8, 2019
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
An artist familiar with natural dye processes will concern themselves with essential elements, experimenting with materials that respond to temperature, absorption and time. Adopting observational qualities of a scientist, the artist experiments to achieve potential results, and responds to unexpected outcomes. Amada Miller delves into these origins and techniques, which takes her research deep into early civilizations—not only in terms of dye materials and traditions, but of other basic concepts like timekeeping and pondering our position in the universe—ideas which still preoccupy even our most eminent scientists with awe and astonishment.
Researching subjects ranging from Ancient Egyptian water clocks to what space smells like, Miller’s exhibition The Absurdity of the Fact of Us employs water, dye and scent as activators to investigate and observe natural processes on their own terms, relating them to the broader universe. This work pairs clay and dye, meteorites and silk; materials we might regard as extremes in relation to each other until we think about the actual sources that make them possible. Those origins might just be other-worldly, in the space dust that occasionally makes a visit to our planet, delivering carbon, water and other basic elements in its wake, visible as glorious, glowing tails in the sky.
Responding to research conducted by Miller, Kellen Stanley will be activating various scents throughout the evening.
A portion of this work was developed at the Blue Star Contemporary Berlin Residency Program at Künstlerhaus Bethanien.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Amada Miller is an artist based in San Antonio, Texas. Her work has been exhibited at Agora Gallery, AP Art Lab, Artpace San Antonio, Blue Star Contemporary, Capsule Gallery, Flight Gallery, French & Michigan, the McNay Art Museum, Palmetto Center for the Arts at Northwest Vista College and The University of Texas at San Antonio. She recently completed a residency at Künstlerhaus Bethanien via Blue Star Contemporary’s Berlin Residency program, where she worked closely with curators and research staff at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. Future exhibitions include Blue Star Contemporary, Cinnabar, MASS Gallery, Useable Space (Milwaukee, WI) and Porcino (Berlin).
amadamiller.com
Image: Framing an Observable Universe, 2018; Moon breccia thin section viewed through polarized light, digitally printed on silk chiffon, free-standing wood frame
PRESS
Glasstire https://glasstire.com/2019/01/15/amada-miller-the-absurdity-of-the-fact-of-us/
Glasstire Top 5 in Texas