BIO

Liz Miller

Liz Miller is a second-generation fine artist. Dance/ Performance art is part of her repertoire; she performs locally and internationally (various Canadian cities from 2002-2005, Monrovia, Liberia in 2001, and in Vizianagaram, India in 2015). Her fine art has been shown nationwide but also internationally in Japan, Indonesia, and England. She has a B. A. in Art and Design from Towson University and an MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. She has been a teaching artist for the last eighteen years and currently is an art teacher for Baltimore County Public schools. She creates hair sculptures, performance art, and film. Her films capture black bodies cleansing and blessing previously traumatic space for black and brown bodies. She has been a guest speaker at Johns Hopkins University and Maryland Institute College of Art.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

-Maryland Institute College of Art, MFA, 2020

-Towson University, B.A. in Art & Design, 2017

-Cornerstone University, B.S. in Bible and Youth Ministry, 2006

Selected Exhibitions

2022

- ‘Awe’ Womens international Exhibition, Lafenice Gallery, Hong Kong, China.

- 'Infusion Arts Festival', A. Hoehn & Co., Baltimore, MD.

- 'Unveiling Resistance', Comm. College of Baltimore County, Catonsville, MD

2021

- 'Certain Parties or Parties Unknown' Projection project, Arts and Humanities Council of

Montgomery County, Rockville, MD

-Call & Response: Craft as a Tool for Activism, Museum of Craft and Design, San Fran., CA

- Unraveled, Untitled Space, NY, NY

-Unapologetic Conversations: Hair and Nonconformity, Delaware Contemporary Museum,

Wilmington, DE

- Embody, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT

- Strand, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT

- MICA MFA in Studio Art 2020 Graduates, VisArts, Rockville. MD

2020

- Ritual Cleansing, SOLO SHOW, Harmony Hall Arts Center, Fort Washington, MD
- Works by Desmond Beach & Liz Miller, Chesapeake Gallery at Harford Comm. College,

Bel Air, MD

- Merkin Dream, Maryland Arts Place, Baltimore, MD
2019

- Left Space Pop-Up Exhibition, 1100 Wicomico, Baltimore, MD

- Ways of Seeing, MICA Place and Jubilee Arts, Baltimore, MD

- Hamilton Arts Collective Gallery Group Show, Baltimore, MD

- Sense Gallery (Partner Show), Washington DC

- Inter//Active, Decker Library- MICA, Baltimore, MD

2018

- Medium: Black & White, La Neutra Institute Museum & Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

- Civil Rights: Human Rights, Neutra Institute Museum & Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

- Gunung Sunda Festival, Sukabumi, Indonesia

- Surrealism Group Show, Elizabeth James Gallery, London, UK

- ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ Group Show, Arena Stage, Baltimore, MD

- International Artist Day Show, Artist Compound at XS Restaurant, Balt., MD

2017

We are Hair, SOLO SHOW, Creative York Gallery, York, PA

- GradEx: SOLO SHOW, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

- Grand Opening Art Show, Tooth N’ Nail Café, Baltimore, MD

- Bmore Fun a Day Group Exhibition, Joe Squared, Baltimore, MD

- Artist Compound Group Show, Mount Vernon Marketplace, Baltimore, MD

- Sustainability SOLO SHOW, Melody Café, Baltimore, MD

- Disorder 4 Group Show, MICA, Baltimore, MD

- 21st Annual CDSO Multicultural Organization, Towson University, Baltimore, MD

- ‘Guise Gala & Fundraiser, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD

Juried Exhibitions

2018 Divine Love and Human Destiny Show, Artists Emporium, Havre De Grace, MD

Juror: Jeff Ball (Art History Professor at Harford Community College) - 3rd Place Award

10th Annual Juried Show, Riverview Artspace, Lynchburg, VA

Juror: Terence Washington (Curator National Gallery of Art)- Honorable Mention Award

1st Year Graduate Juried Exhibition, MICA, Baltimore,MD

Juror: Amanda Jiron-Murphy (Curator Hamiltonian Gallery- DC)

Annual Undergraduate Juried Ceramic Exhibition, MICA, Baltimore, MD

Juror: Cara Ober (editor of Bmore Art)

2017 Solastalgia Juried Show, MICA, Baltimore, MD

Undergraduate Juried Exhibition, Towson University, Towson, MD

Publications

2022 The New Yorker, 'How a Forgotten Bit of Infrastructure Became a Symbol of Civic Pride'.

OBSIDIAN: Lit and Arts of the African Diaspora, playground special issue, Illinois State Univ.

2019 Magenta Suite, in-studio book, New Hampshire

2018 NPR article by Eslah Attar, 8/17/18, (Digital)

La Casita Grande, lcgeditores.com, 7/22/18, border issue, featured photo of sculpture

‘Bridges, Not Walls’. (Digital)

Guest Lecturer

2020

'Color Design and Practice', Professor Nikki Brooks, Maryland Institute College of Art.

'Art Worlds'. Professor Kristine Roome, Maryland Institute College of Art.

'Healthcare Activism in Baltimore and Beyond', Professor Alicia Puglionesi, JHU.

Media Interview

2021 'After Thoughts' Artist Interview with Maryland Delegate Stephanie Smith for Center Stage

in release with ' The Glorious World of Crowns, Kings and Curls' by Keli Goff

MotorHouse, Teaching Artist Interview, 10x10 Exhibit 'Voice'

2020 ‘Illuminated Lunch Voicebox’ with Sarah Magida of Firefly Coaching
Walters Art Museum, IG Live/ Youtube, 12/03/2020

Getting to the truth Podcast (September release)
2018 CreativeHowPodcast.com, featured artist for episode #6, produced by Jed Jecelin

(creative director at Under Armor)

On Loan

2020 Amicci's Italian Restaurant

Lift Yoga & Strength, Baltimore, MD (‘18-’20)

2018 Lauraville Restaurant, Baltimore, MD (NOV

2017 Starbucks’ Art Wall

Fellowships

- ART21 Educator Fellowship, 2021-2022, 10th cohort.

Artist Statement

Hair, a part of all of us. Our skin anchors it in place. We live within its' roots. Hair designs have enjoyed a rich, multi-hemispheric tradition that has spanned the millennia.

Liz Miller's work explores the connection between our roots and contemporary America. Textile, ancestry, and contemporary black culture are her inspirations. Her work takes the form of static installations, artifacts of rituals and/or full-scale performances, films, and social experiments.

Cataloging hair stories since her formative years, Liz celebrates the limitless potential of hair, as it relates to African-American culture. Her sculptural artifacts deployed in her rituals question black body politics while addressing such issues as appropriation, classism, gender, ethnicity, anti-blackness, equity, identity, and commodification. Her performance rituals seek to spiritually cleanse historically traumatic spaces of their energy through the activation of black bodies.