Rori Miller: Union Hall Exhibtion
Stamps Professor Nick Tobier has been showcasing work by Stamps students in the windows of Union Hall (208 W. Liberty St., Ann Arbor). Recently, his Union Hall Exhibitions included work by Rori Miller (BA ’22). Miller’s work can be viewed at any time of day from Liberty Street or on the Union Hall Exhibitions Instagram page.
In her artist statement, Miller writes:
“Throughout the Fall 2020 semester, I remained at home due to concerns about COVID, public health safety, and irresponsible roommates. This decision left me in my childhood bedroom, taking classes in a completely new format, 800 miles away from my best friends, watching deaths continue to rise as we get cheated and betrayed by our government’s response to a pandemic. For my Senior Studio (ArtDes401) course, I began the semester with the intent to research and watercolor native New England plants. My mindset was that if I am going to be staying in this place for an extended period of time, I should investigate ways to appreciate it further. Along with this, I began creating daily observational sketches of a Japanese anemone flower in our garden. Through this practice of doing a daily observational sketch of a single plant, I pause to focus on a single moment during the day. Working on these daily products has given me a structure to an unstructured time period of my life. I have a reason to ‘make, make, make’ and in the process. At the smallest level, I move my dark pen across a clean white sheet of paper. My
eyes carefully follow the form of each individual delicate ridge, crease, and edge of the petal. Pull back the perspective, I observe and sketch a flower in my garden, right outside my childhood bedroom. Pull back the perspective, the form of the flower changes every day as the weather gets colder and the sun sets earlier. Pull back the perspective, people are quarantining, in their homes, losing their jobs, and loved ones. Pull back the perspective, 1.5 million people have died in a global pandemic. This project contrasts the gradual, natural cycle of death and decay of a single flower plant in my home garden,”