Every day on Art&Seek, we’re talking to people who have tips on art in the time of social distancing.  Share yours with us on Facebook, Instagram or @artandseek on Twitter. Click above to hear art educator and fiber artist Christine Miller share her tip with KERA’s Nilufer Arsala. 

Christine K. Miller, Needle Felted Self Portrait.

Christine Miller is an award-winning art educator and fiber artist who loves teaching. When she retired a couple of years ago she was able to continue teaching by offering personal fiber lessons in her studio.

COVID took away those face-to-face teaching interactions. But the stay-at-home orders and restrictions gave Miller something else in return – time. Time she did not have when she was teaching. Time that has allowed Miller to create and really focus on her own work.

Like a lot of artists, Miller works in many disciplines, including basketry, knitting, crocheting, felting, embroidery, jewelry, and photography.

But her first love is weaving.

Christine K. Miller, Fiesta.

“I like to say that’s where my heart beats when I’m sitting at the loom and weaving,” said Miller.

“Once you get the loom set up and you actually begin weaving, you know it’s just very soothing to the brain, but you know your body there’s just a rhythm to it. And you’re just creating cloth one thread at a time. As you go along and it’s just beautiful and I just love to do it.”

Miller creates fine art objects for the home that are both functional and beautiful like handwoven towels. Want to see how a $40 towel is made? Check out the video below.

“I think very much about the color. The color choices I make and about the weave structure and about the functionality of it to is it going perform really well as a beautiful, useful tool, right? You want it to be beautiful, but you want it to really perform well in its job.”

Christine Miller, Coral Reef sculpture. Keith Miller, resin painting.

Miller weaves wire to create jewelry and sculptural forms. Using the woven metal fabric gives strength and stability to her works of art. You can see some of those works on display now at the ArtCentre of Plano.

The exhibition Beneath the Surface: Reimagined is a collaboration between Miller and her husband, artist Keith Miller. For this show, their work reflects their interpretations of life underwater and is meant to bring awareness to the fragile state of the world’s coral reefs.

Keith Miller’s dimensional resin paintings complemented Christine’s colorful sculptures so well it even surprised and amazed Christine.

“He does resin paintings that all that look like they’re underwater that have underwater life floating in these resin paintings. And then I have all the fiber sculptures . . . like I’m the Doctor Seuss of the coral reef. We didn’t try to slavishly recreate coral forms or life forms that you’ll find in the ocean. But we used our imagination and creativity to interpret those and so our work together is just awesome.”

Can’t make it out to the ArtCentre of Plano to see the exhibition? There’s a digital online version of the exhibition on the artist’s website.

You can learn more about Christine Miller and see samples of her work on her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Got a tip? Email Gila Espinoza at gespinoza@kera.org. You can follow her on Twitter @espinoza_kera.

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