Ashley Sauder Miller is an artist living and working in Harrisonburg, VA. Her work combines traditional painting and drawing media with found materials, including vintage textiles, abandoned quilts, and fabric. She holds a Master of Fine Arts (2007) from James Madison University, with an emphasis in painting and drawing. Miller was finalist for the William and Dorothy Yeck Purchase Award in the Young Painters Competition at Miami University (2016). She received the Best in Show Award at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art Boardwalk show (2016) and was selected for a solo show at VaMOCA’s Runnymede Gallery (2017). Her work has been included in both online and print publications, including FreshPaint Magazine, Studio Visit magazine, New American Paintings South 2020 Issue 148, and will be included in the book Wild Lands (published by Jen Tough Gallery). Her work has recently been acquired by the Capital One Art Bank private collection. Miller maintains a regular studio practice, actively exhibits her work, and is the primary caregiver for her four children.
Drawers and boxes in my studio overflow with scraps collected for the past twenty years – treasured family photos, heirloom embroidery, pieces of chair upholstery, vintage drawer liners, richly colored and textured textiles, stacks of my child’s drawings – bits and pieces of stories and nostalgia, a collection of apast lifetime. This body of work combines found and discarded materials with traditional art media. Thrift store quilt squares, chair upholstery, fabric flowers, balsa wood, and bits of cut paper left behind by my children are layered with paint, marker and oil pastel to create contemporary narratives from past stories. The chair and floral pieces have evolved into a complex narrative – one both deeply personal and widely shared – stories of loss, renewal, remembrance, expectancy, surprise, hope, and change.