Miller Opie
Miller Opie’s work explores and exorcises her life-altering experience that began in 2009 when she learned that she had several benign tumors that were destroying her jawbone. The over three years of surgeries and procedures inspires Miller to intimately explore beauty, decay and fragility. She has a life long passion and obsession for collecting bones and other natural objects. Working with found organic materials allows her the thrill of the hunt, the experience of discovery and the joy of combining and manipulating shapes. Miller creates something better, something more compelling, by repairing a broken cow femur or combining moose ribs and feathers. Inspired by the new metal plate in her jaw, she adds brass screws or metal chain to these discarded, decaying animal parts to give them a new life. Her work investigates how female beauty is defined through mortality and rejuvenation.
Miller Opie grew up in a family of makers and earned her undergraduate degree from the Rhode Island School of Design in jewelry and light metals. After several years running her own jewelry design business, she evolved her passion for design into a 20-year career in the home fashions industry. She has led design and brand development for several high profile brands in all product categories. Opie’s jewelry and sculpture work is in many private collections. She makes art in Western Massachusetts at Rumpus Studio, which she created with her sister and her husband. Opie is a recipient of the 2020 Mollie & Albert Jacobson Sculpture Award, a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists and a member of the Sculptors Guild of New York City.
Fountain Street Exhibitions: The Space for Maybe, In the Annex January 2021, Out of Place
Purchase Opie's work by contacting us directly at director@fsfaboston.com. Opie's work is also available for purchase on 1stdibs.com.
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More about Miller Opie:
Boston Art Review | Shira Laucharoen