Welcome, and thank you for visiting my website!
My name is Janet Nechama Miller. I am an artist and teacher in Seattle, WA, where I was born and raised. In addition to creating my artwork, I teach workshops on mixed-media encaustic painting, collage, and bookbinding out of my art studio downtown. I also teach 7th Grade Language Arts at the Seattle Girls’ School. I first discovered my love of teaching through my work with the local anti-violence organization Home Alive, with which I taught self-defense and boundary setting classes for eight years. I love to learn and share skills! Please get in touch with me if you are interested in attending a workshop, arranging a studio visit, or purchasing artwork.
As an artist, teacher, and community member, I feel moved to engage in social justice and anti-violence work. I strive to be a part of and contribute to movements that work to build safer communities here at home, and also to understand the impact of injustice, oppression, and various forms of violence on communities beyond the borders of the U.S. as well. This work drives me to both share my stories through my own artwork, and to encourage others to share their experiences, memories and dreams through a creative process.
I create my paintings with beeswax, oil paint, graphite, and found materials. These materials include used maps, salvaged books, letters, flyers, doodles, and various items I find on the ground or am given. These saved and rescued scraps are a tangible recollection of experiences I have had, which build on each other to create an endless, constantly changing story.
My painting process involves many steps. I begin by layering beeswax and collage materials, creating a surface filled with semi-hidden stories and memories. Then, I use handmade transfer paper and my beloved sharp tool to draw lines. I cannot see these lines until I remove the transfer paper. After that, I work with what I have intuitively created by adding layers upon layers of wax, paper, and oil paint.
As I paint, my ideas about what the finished piece will look like constantly change and grow. My process is driven by questions: What stories do these collage pieces represent? How do these items work together to tell a new story? How are these experiences related to one another, and how am I exploring those connections with this piece? What issues are raised when reflecting upon various experiences? And then, how does using artwork to process and describe these experiences connect to the work I am doing in the world around me?
My artwork is directly inspired by experiences I have had, questions I have asked, and stories that I have witnessed and been told while immersing myself in education & struggles for liberation in Seattle, Tucson, Mexico, Guatemala, Israel/Palestine and beyond.
I am amazed and inspired by the incredible amount of resiliency people have in the face of tragedy and oppression. And, I see, again and again, how essential art is, as a tool for building movements to end violence and oppression for all people.
I love what I do and I feel grateful that I am involved in work that allows me to continuously grow and learn, and to build on what I discover by taking risks and trying new things. I have an amazing amount of support from incredible people around me. Every bit of help, advice, and encouragement has been absolutely critical in allowing me to continue doing what I do. So, thank you for being my friend, buying my work, participating in my workshops, visiting me in my studio, hiring me to paint murals or teach young people, helping me with computers, taking pictures, being my mentor, forwarding my emails, looking at my website, and everything else that you have done for me. I appreciate all of it, enormously.