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Karen Illman Miller — fiber

The Arts Center Exhibits:

• 'Finger Licking Good: Art About Food,' April/May 2012
• 'Portals' Show & Silent Auction 2011

Artist’s Biography

Karen Miller was born in Oakland, CA in 1946. She was a marine biologist before becoming an expert on katazome, the art of Japanese stencil dyeing. Using her own hand cut stencils to apply a resist paste she produces fabric for art quilts, as well as silk garments, linen hangings and indigo dyed cottons.  

Her work has been exhibited twice in Japan. She has shown her work in numerous juried and group shows. Her work was accepted to Visions 2002, In 2009 she had Oregon solo shows at the Newport Visual Arts Center, Benton County Historical Society and the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center in Portland. She shows regularly at the Japanese Garden in Portland and Kobo in Seattle. Her work is in numerous private collections and hangs in the Washington D.C. office of Jane Lubchenco, the head of NOAA.

She has taught katazome nationally and internationally and published several articles on katazome. She was invited lecturer at the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe New Mexico.

Karen Illman Miller lives in Corvallis, OR.  View OPB's Oregon Art Beat segment featuring Karen Miller.

Artist's Statement for 'Portals' Winter Show & Silent Auction 2011

Wherever you travel in Japan you see noren, the door curtains used to provide visual privacy in the entrances to shops and restaurants.  They are also used in homes, both modern and traditional, to screen rooms and decorate walls. I have made custom noren for many people using katazome, the Japanese stencil dyeing technique, which is my chosen art form.

Buildings are close to the street in crowded urban areas and these curtains are not only welcoming advertisements for the business inside, but protect the interior from the dust and confusion of the street. They are often indigo dyed cotton but can be elegant ramie or sturdy hemp, painted or dyed, and often with a family crest of the business owner or homeowner.

Noren are used even in modern Japanese cities, but Kyoto still has many traditional machiya, the old commercial buildings, with their latticed fronts, shoji screens and tile roofs. I have chosen to install a miniature indigo noren in the doorway of a replica of one of these gorgeous old buildings.

Visit Karen Illman Miller's website.