Kathryn Miller

Tribe: Spokane First Generation Descendent
Based In: Portland, OR
Email: kmil645@gmail.com

About the Art
The year 2020 will be remembered as a pivot point for changing the course of the world. Many have called it unprecedented, but people of brown or black heritage know, that is not true. Indigenous tribal histories clearly show that as the United States expanded, Indigenous people experienced even harsher pivots over longer periods of time. U.S. Tribal histories recorded diseases brought by white foreigners: Flu pandemics, smallpox and tuberculosis. Racism and genocide were accepted norms as the good citizens of the United States removed us from our homelands and claimed the resources necessary for our survival as their own. Bad behaviors of good people were often fueled by misinformation and lies. When tensions led to angry altercations a policy of isolation on ‘reserves’ was accepted as ‘protection’ for Indigenous people. From the isolation of the reservations, our ancestors were deemed unable to ‘properly’ educate and feed the children. In response, children were taken from family homes. Indigenous people were denied the right to challenge these injustices because they were denied citizenship until 1924. Some States barred Native Americans from voting until 1957. Voiceless by design, Indigenous perspectives were not recorded. Until recently, these perspectives remained hidden beneath the elaborate myth of manifest destiny.

And here we are again, back at the beginning of a cycle of pandemic, unequal access to resources, imperiled education for our children, food insecurity and a fight for the right to voice our opinions to our government among the chaos of misinformation and repeated lies. 2020 was frustrating and gut wrenchingly sad. I began the pandemic shutdown by making more than 150 facemasks for family, coworkers and friends. The first masks were sent to those at highest risk, the Elders on my Reservation. Then I began a new body of work based on the traditional twined bag techniques of my grandmothers. Twining is a weaving technique that is easily portable and worked off-loom. Although I could not travel with my work because of Covid-19 restrictions, I could do my work and watch the news erupting around the world. I watched and I worked, pouring my thoughts and feelings into the subject matter of my designs. Historically, twined bags although beautiful were made to hold valuables. My bags represent a record of my experience, perhaps the most valuable thing I can offer.

History is most beneficial when it holds the truth of many perspectives. U.S. citizens were woefully unprepared for 2020 because the majority had no record of a similar experience. It is a flaw built into a system based on a majority perspective written by the victors of a battle for resources. Recovery from our 2020 experiences will take a tremendous effort and the repercussions will last for generations. Now would be a good time to turn to U.S. brown and black citizens for help surviving the 2020 devastation.

About the Artist
Kathryn A. Miller (1959-) is an American first generation descendent of the Spokane Indian Tribe of the Pacific Northwest. Kathi follows a long line of creative Indigenous women and she grew up making her own clothes. Her studio art studies began in 1977 at Washington State University where she was first introduced to the fiber arts in addition to drawing, painting and sculpture. In 1985 she moved to Wyoming where she began studies in weaving, spinning, dyeing and felting. She continued her education as she raised her family on a ranch where she tended a small flock of Navajo sheep, Angora and Cashmere goats to help her better understand her fiber processes. Her insatiable appetite for the fiber arts led her to include studies in papermaking, basketry, knitting, beading, printmaking, ceramics and welded metal sculpture. Her mixed media art is concept driven and thematic. Ecology has been a recurrent theme while her most recent themes include Navigating Boundaries, History, Legacy and Time. Kathi lives in Portland Oregon.