katie miller

UNDERGROUND & OPEN-CUT

Bellevue College Gallery, Bellevue WA 2024

Photos: James Harnois and Katie Miller

Underground & Open-Cut are just two of many types of mining processes to extract materials from the earth. This exhibition is inspired by mineral extraction processes and the socio-ecological impacts of mining practices. The new artworks are informed by extensive research and site visits to historic and modern mines in California, Minnesota, Colorado, and Montana. It is visually informed by mineral maps, aerial photography of open pit mines, historic hand-drawn claim and mineral surveys, and months of hiking the Sonoran and Colorado deserts. The resulting exhibition explores new ways to reconsider our relationship with the geologic materials, minerals, and resources under our feet and interwoven into our everyday.

This new work hopes to create greater awareness that most materials we use or encounter in our daily lives come from the earth – from a place, landscape, ecosystem, and community. The choices of materials – glass, salt, hematite, iron oxide, black aluminum oxide, underwater mining maps – and their use in this body of work are linked to the overall concept of mining and mineral extraction.  The process of making the kilnformed glass mosaics involves a chemical reaction at high temperature to create the blue line drawing.  Salt is a mined mineral that is used in our everyday from food preparation to industrial process. Black aluminum oxide is created through electrofusion of bauxite, iron oxide, and micro-elements. Mined hematite and iron oxide are additives in acrylic paint to create a range of colors, surfaces, and textures.