The co-founder and co-owner of Cre8ery gallery and studio, nominee as a Future Leader of Manitoba, Winnipeg Arts Council Award of Distinction winner and a keynote speaker at the Northwestern Ontario Artpreneur Conference – it’s safe to say Jordan Miller has offered much to the Canadian art scene.

Miller’s newest exhibition, Life Structures and Other Personalities, is the revealing of her last year-and-a-half spent creating 364 pieces of mixed media works and a series of hand-stitched “personalities.”

The project started when Miller realized she hadn’t created thematic pieces in a while. Although constantly surrounded by art, Miller realized that “the absence of art” was starting to affect her.

“I am a gallery owner, an art consultant, and I’m an artist. I’ve been running an art space for a long time now – it’s my turn!” she explained.

This exhibition will be the largest Miller has shown, bringing the viewer’s attention to life’s beauty stitched, painted and laid onto canvas as a reflection of our lives, 365 days a year.

“ I am a gallery owner, an art consultant, and I’m an artist. I’ve been running an art space for a long time now – it’s my turn!

Jordan Miller, artist

“Three hundred and sixty-five is significant to a year. I created 364 pieces, there is a 365th, but you’ll only see it when my show is on,” Miller teased.

Other Personalities, the second part of the exhibit, is a playful interpretation of stitched hands that Miller depicts as different characters, interacting like bodies and bringing attention to another kind of expression. “They’re an important key into the lives of others,” Miller said. “I’m a person who talks with my hands – many are the same way, and that’s where the inspiration came from. It’s the way that our hands speak to each other.”Movements like waving goodbye, walking a dog, or flirting represent a significant relationship viewers will relate to. 

Although she describes herself as “more of an abstract painter,” Miller’s paintings reflect something real.

“I want people to find themselves in the pieces,” Miller said.

Life Structures and Other Personalities runs from Friday, Oct. 1 to Tuesday, Oct. 12 at the Cre8ery at 125 Adelaide St.

Published in Volume 65, Number 5 of The Uniter (September 30, 2010)