“Here and Gone” is Kristen Miller’s
elegant exploration of time, memory and the fleeting nature of human life.
Through her materials — gauzy fabrics and diaphanous papers — and her technique
of threading and beading, she reminds us that memories are sewn into the fabric
of time; we piece together yesteryears and weave them into personal narratives,
endeavoring to concretize and immortalize a cherished moment even as it
dissolves in our hands. Subtle but never timid, Miller’s wall pieces and
installation were inspired by Annie Dillard’s 1998 essay in Harpers,
“The Wreck of Time: Taking our Century’s Measure.” The writer’s invocation of
the billions who have lived and died in past ages and the further billions yet
born, struck an existentialist chord with Miller. In the current body of work
the artist, who earned degrees in fiber and textile design from Cranbrook
Academy of Art and the University of Kansas, exploits the fragility of organdy,
tissue, and glassine paper to convey the ephemerality of lives bookended by dual
eternities.
In the wall pieces she often counterposes geometric forms, as
in “From Above,” its two circles linked by nautilus-like swirls. These circles
may be metaphoric stand-ins for the sun and moon, orbs by which we order our
calendars and mark the passage of time. Two plum-colored squares
contemplate one another in “Untitled,” their rich hues standing out in a show
otherwise given over to whites and ecrus. In “Ether,” waves of beads transect
the picture plane like musical staves, while “Five Seconds” measures via form
the duration of the average human breath.
The works’ meticulous
threadwork nods to the temporality of craft traditions, in which time and
difficulty of execution count for as much as, if not more than, conceptual
concerns. There are feminist undertones as well. As writers such as Camille
Paglia have asserted, women are often viewed as more organically connected to
the passage of time than are men. The menstrual cycle charts the month in 29
days, while the so-called biological clock charts a woman’s reproductive
trajectory. Further, the fabric, thread, and beads that comprise Miller’s media
have in recent years been reappropriated by feminist artists to acknowledge and
critique these materials’ associations with traditional notions of feminine
domesticity. Wisely, the artist leaves meta-issues of craft and gender largely
to the viewer’s reflection, preferring a suggestive approach to a heavy-handed
one. “Here and Gone” is more concerned with poetics than polemics.
The
ambitious installation from which the show takes its title was supported by a
grant from Oregon’s nonprofit Regional Arts & Culture Council. For this
piece, Miller created and distributed postcard questionnaires, asking
respondents to expound upon important dates in their lives. Wedding days,
children’s birthdays, the date of a parent’s death, were among the most common
answers. For each date, she knotted a grouping of beads on a string hanging from
a ceiling support, the positioning of the beads corresponding to an arbitrary
chronological schema. In the finished piece, the strings dangle like long
raindrops, each signifying a deeply personal narrative. Together, they cascade
like a downpour of celebrations and sorrows. The installation, like the wall
pieces, is fastidiously executed and emanates a quiet
poignancy.
