Arkatyiis Miller,
Drawing
It’s one of those moments that everyone from Little League shortstops to coffeehouse musicians dreams of. Last spring, Arkatyiis Miller was toiling away on her current body of work— rich, complex swirls of pencil-crayon- on- cotton- rag-paper— when she was tapped on the shoulder by the associate director of Barbara Edwards Contemporary. The gallery was talent- scouting for its exhibition “Hand Pic’D,” and Miller, along with three other emerging artists, was chosen to exhibit her work in a major commercial gallery for the first time. To Miller’s everlasting delight, “32nd Hour Totem,” her 45- inch x 32- inch unframed piece sold for $ 700.
Miller, who grew up near Barrhead ( and was named after a legendarily reclusive but kind neighbour), is as unassuming an artist as you could wish for: a farm girl whose chosen medium is a pack of Prismacolor pencils. Prior to her Totem series, Miller worked on a series of nude self- portraits, until the day, she says, “I got bored of myself— I realized I was much more interested in the backgrounds.”
This weekend marks the first time Miller will offer these works at the Show + Sale, both unframed ($ 700) and framed ($ 1,300). Thanks to her gallery experience, Miller has confidently priced the pieces higher than she would have otherwise. “It’s not right to sell for less than at Barbara Edwards— I don’t
want to undercut them.” ( Her budget- conscious admirers can pay $ 50 for an unframed “Tiny Totem.”)
A veteran of the Show + Sale, Miller echoes her cohort in her observations that the bar has recently been raised on the event. “It’s a serious event that pulls in the larger community as well as conscientious collectors who could have an impact on artists’ careers,” she says. “It’s a real service to students; there’s more authenticity now, and the students’ work has more authority in the way it’s being presented.”
While Miller is very happy with the education she’s received at ACAD, she’s also grateful for being there at a time when the ACADSA workshops were available to teach her what the college couldn’t. “ACAD focusses on developing really strong artists,” she says. “It’s up to us to learn how to make money by selling our work to make a living”— a notion that, for this student, feels encouragingly within reach.