MAGGI MILLER
Collage Artist
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a paper artist. My images and collages are made both with found and handmade papers. Pieces include scenes with lovers, children, birds, flowers, and words. I sometimes incorporate old sketches and prints, and I have interpreted photographs that illustrate a negative space to make an abstract piece. Sometimes I will remember a dream that I want to illustrate. Inspiration can come from anywhere.
Paper stretches my imagination, vision, and intelligence. I want to explore what happens when two-dimensional elements are pasted together on a flat surface to create an image.
Once I understood that paper could be an art form, I knew I found the medium that fit me. It’s like being able to draw, paint, write, and sculpt all at the same time. My dream is for viewers to say, “It looks good on paper!”
ARTIST BIO
Maggi Miller earned a BFA in Art Education at the University of Texas, Arlington, to learn how to teach art and art history to high school students. Her path after college took her a different route, but her interest in painting and printmaking remained. She became curious about the process of papermaking, and that led her to take a class with internationally renowned paper artist Priscilla Robinson. The experience revived her enthusiasm about the elements of art, especially color and texture. She saw her first stack of paper as an exciting medium for creating pictures without using a pencil or paintbrush.
Maggi has studied papermaking with Helen Heibert, in classes at Columbia College in Chicago, and at Southwest School of Art & Craft. She has shown her work in venues ranging from Austin’s Hyde Park Bar & Grill to galleries in Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Ohio. Her work has been recognized with a Merit Award by the Texas Visual Arts Association, an Honorable Mention in the Austin Art Boards competition, and two awards from the National Collage Society. She wrote and illustrated a children’s book, The Baby Who Wouldn’t Say Mama, and her pictures have been included in a collection of literary essays, Awakened by Surprise, by Robert Bonazzi.
Juried Exhibitions
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National Collage Society 26th Small Format Exhibit, Award Winner, 2025
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Creative Art Society/ Art CO, 2024
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Austin Art & Framing Collage Show, 2024
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Austin Art Space, 2024
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Round Rock Arts, 2024
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Texas State University, Round Rock Campus, 2023
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National Collage Society 25th Small Format Exhibit, Award Winner, 2022
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Richardson Civic Arts Society 57th Annual Regional Show, 2022
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Texas and Neighbors 37th Regional Art Exhibition, Category Winner, Mixed Media, 2022
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EAST Link & Pin Gallery, Austin, 2021
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36th Texas & Neighbors Regional Art Exhibition, 2021
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Carver Library, Austin, 2019
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Webster Arts Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 2019
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Austin Visual Arts Association, 2019
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Link & Pin Gallery, Austin, 2019
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Austin Hilton Doubletree Hotel, 2018
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Arnold Grummer’s Midwest Paper Exhibition, Green Lake, Wisconsin, 2018
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RAW: FIXATE, San Antonio, 2017
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RAW: MOTIF, Austin, 2016
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WEST, Austin Art Space, 2014
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National Collage Society, 28th Annual Juried Exhibit, Collegeville, Pennsylvania 2012
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Multicultural Arts Partnership Spring Show, 2011
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Austin Art Boards, Honorable Mention, 2011
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Hyde Park Bar & Grill, Austin, 2011
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Multicultural Artists Partnership Spring Exhibition and Contest, Austin, 2011
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Bass Concert Hall, Creative Art Society, Austin, 2010
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Springfield Art Association: Springfield, Illinois, 2010
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The Gallery at Amplify, Austin, 2009
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Creative Art Society, Members Show, 2009
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Texas Visual Arts Association, Merit Award, Irving, Texas 2008
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Texas Visual Arts Association, Irving, Texas, 2007
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TexART Horizons Texas at the Oasis, Austin, 2006
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Texas Visual Arts Association, Irving, 2005
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First Frontier Collage Society, Austin, 2005
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First Frontier Collage Society, Austin, 2004
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Hill Country Arts Foundation, Ingram, Texas, 2003
Solo and Group Exhibitions
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Link & Pin Gallery, Austin, 2024
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Hyde Park Bar & Grill, Austin, Westgate, 2023
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Hyde Park Bar & Grill, Austin, Westgate, 2021
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Hyde Park Bar & Grill, Austin, Duval, 2021
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Hyde Park Bar & Grill, Austin, Westgate, 2018
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Hyde Park Bar & Grill, Austin, Westgate, 2015
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4001 Salon, Austin, 2018
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Hyde Park Bar & Grill, Austin, 2015
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Blackstar Co-Op, Austin, 2013
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Real Gallery, Austin, 2012
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Amplify, Congress Avenue, Austin, 2011
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Scarborough Building, 2011
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4001 Salon, Austin, 2005
Publications
1. Illustrations, Awakened by Surprise by Robert Bonazzi, Lamar University Literary Press, 2016
2. Cover, Outside the Margins by Robert Bonazzi, Wings Press, 2015
3. The Baby Who Wouldn’t Say Mama, 2011