Brunhilde and Ken Miller

by | Dec 16, 2022

    January 20, 2023 - February 14, 2023

Artist reception will be held Saturday, January 21st, 3-5:00.  The public is welcome!

 

Wood Collages and Fiber Arts

Wood and Fiber

All her life Brunhilde Miller has been designing with the use of fabric altered to fit the need of the design. A report on the news, personal events or accidental or purposely juxtaposed colors may inspire a theme or memory to be conveyed in an image. Her work shows a wide range of techniques from piecing to collage, thread drawing and machine embellishment. Her wood collages were inspired by Louise Nevelson who worked with discarded and scrapped wood as inspiration.

Bowls, Sculpture and Creations from the Woods
All his life Ken Miller has been making objects for use and enjoyment.  Wood grain patterns, defective pieces from trees, and observations in nature play a role in his creations.  In his life’s journey, Ken has also experimented with clay and metal, and whimsical pieces.  The retrospective will present a variety of his creations;  Lamps, bowls, bread boards, wine stoppers, spatulas, salt and pepper shakers, candle holders, vases, furniture, sculpture and more.

 

Going in Circles

 

Growth Rings

 

Naturally Gray

 

Unsung Heros
 

 

Pattern

 

Hudson River

 

Bowls

sculpture

Vase

Blank

About the Artists
Brunhilde Miller

I was born in 1938 in Sudetenland presently part of Czechoslovakia. In 1946 my family was removed to Western Germany and housed with a local family. My grandmother would take us to pick wild berries, mushrooms, twigs of wood, wool on the barbed wire. My father and I wove baskets from willows to trade for eggs. In 1949 my family came to the USA to work on a tobacco farm in Maryland. When I outgrew the few clothes I had, I combined them to make something that fit. Eventually I joined the 4 H and was able to buy fabric remnants with County Fair prize money.

 

Education: B.S. in Food Science, University of Maryland, M. S. In Food Technology, Iowa State University and an M.S in Management from RPI. I have taken college courses in aesthetics, ceramics and sculpture. I have taken classes in silver jewelry and fiber workshops.

My first sales of my original designs were at the PTA craft fair at my sons’ school in Troy. Eventually I entered local craft fairs and shows.

I was asked to give a presentation of my crafts to the RPI Women’s Club in 1975. Woman’s Day magazine had a quilt on the cover and I decided to head the design and construction of a Troy Bicentennial Quilt. This led me to experiment with fiber art.

I have participated in small and large shows. My work is in private collections here and abroad as well as in corporate collections in the USA.

Ken Miller

I was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1939. In grade school I was very excited about art, always drawing, participating in art projects, and wanted to be a commercial artist. In high school I took wood and metal shops intending to pursue an industrial career. The college prep program excited me, and I went on to get advanced degrees in Chemistry and a teaching and research career. However, I was always drawn to working with my hands and continued the family tradition of making things in a home shop. In it I restored and repaired antiques, made furniture, sculptures, breadboards, folk art, wine stoppers, bowls, vases and other objects. Much of my work takes advantage of the natural colors, shapes, grain patterns, wormy textures and defects in wood. In Hubbard Hall an example of my reproduction and restoration is the chestnut door and trim at the entrance to the second floor hall from the elevator, as well as much of the cabinetry in the Valley Artisan Market from recycled antique wood. I have sold my work at crafts fairs and VAM, and anticipate continuing to expand my horizons. You will see a spectrum of my creations in the exhibit.

Brunhilde’s Shows and Awards

2019 Troy Fence Show
2018 Craft Fest, Troy NY
2017 Craft Fest, Troy, NY
2008 Winter Solstice Show, Saratoga Council of Arts
2007 One Woman Show, Guilderland, NY
2006 One Woman Show, Vision II Gallery, Albany,NY
2005 Two Women Show, Small Gallery Cambridge, NY
2005 Visions and Revisions, Nott Memorial, Union College, NY
2004 Winter Solstice Show, Saratoga Council of Arts, NY
2003 Winter Solstice Show, Saratoga Council of Arts, NY
2003 Forms and Fiber, Small Gallery, Cambridge, NY
2002 NY Quilts, Troy,NY two second and one third prize
2000 Win Place Show, Saratoga Council of Arts, NY
2001 Shelnutt Gallery, Troy, NY
2000 Second prize in national Quilter’s Express to Japan “Hawks and Heroes Quilt Contest”
Quilt was displayed in Yokohama Quilt Show.
1999Two Women Show, Small Gallery, Cambridge, NY
1998 Visions Gallery, Albany, NY
1996 The Northeast Crafts Exhibit, Schenectady, NY
1995 Shelnutt Gallery, Troy, NY