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Arna Miller currently lives and works in Denver, Colorado. She earned a Bachelor of Environmental Design with an emphasis in Architecture from the University of Colorado while studying art on her own from books and figure drawing classes. Miller’s illustration practice explores the magic in everyday moments inspired by vintage style Americana, magic show posters, matchboxes, and Asian packaging. She often utilizes text to draw the viewer into a humorous and relatable narrative scene that places a cat, squirrel, monkey or other absurd-yet-respectable character at the center, while activating the viewer’s imagination and encouraging participation. Using screen printing as her medium of choice for over a decade, the process informs her design.

 

Miller has participated in numerous solo and group shows throughout the U.S. including Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Hawaii, and Detroit. Her work has appeared on a book cover for Bloomsbury Publishing and is distributed widely on greeting cards throughout Europe, and has even shown up as tattoos on people’s bodies. She has been featured in publications locally, nationally, and internationally, including Australia and Japan as well as in online blogs such as Colossal, Supersonic Art, The Jealous Curator, and Bored Panda. Miller has participated in an artist residency at the Art Student’s League in New York State. She is slated for a two-person show at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in 2020.

 

She has participated in several group shows with Spoke Art over the years, including our Isle of Dogs-themed annual Wes Anderson exhibition and "Strike Your Fancy" with Ravi Zupa. Spoke Art SF is thrilled to present her newest series, “Stop Pouring Gasoline On The Fire, And Other Stories About Cats” in Miller's debut solo show with us for the entire month of September 2019. Inspired by Victorian-era postcards and ephemera, the soft color palette and illustrative style of these screen prints evoke nostalgia and familiarity, contrasted with narrative text that is humorous and all-too-relatable. These cats are getting into trouble and they’ve gone out of their way not to care. Miller portrays these lovable miscreants as a way to tell her viewer, and perhaps convince herself, that making mistakes is a part of life. This series explores the humor and accidental charm in everyday moments and uses humor to lessen the apparent seriousness of self-inflicted human suffering.