ED JOHNETTA MILLER
MASTER TEXTILE AND QUILT DESIGNER
November 28, 2021 - March 26, 2022
Art for the Soul Gallery is proud to host an exhibition of newly created Museum works by internationally acclaimed textile artist Ed Johnetta Miller. The exhibition launched with an artist’s reception on November 28, 2021 from 4 to 8 p. m. at Tower Square’s Art for the Soul Gallery located at 1500 Main Street, Springfield MA, and will close on March 26, 2022.
Miller, a Hartford, CT resident has been active in the arts community for over 30 years. She is known for addressing social issues and community development through her fabric creations. “I love to sew. I love to work with people, and I love giving back to my community,” Miller says. Widely exhibited in the U.S. and internationally, her quilts can be found in many corporate and private collections including, The National Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; Nelson Mandela’s National Museum in Cape Town, South Africa; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, and the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, CO. Miller’s work has hung in numerous US Embassy’s including Ethiopia and Chad and is in the permanent collect of the US Embassy in Benin. Speaking generally about her work Miller says, “My work is like a spiritual journey that allows me to return to the dye table, sewing machine, quilting studio day after day with renewed anticipation of what beauty will evolve. My current work is improvisational after escaping the structured weaving work after 25 years, I don’t want structure anymore.”
Her early quilts were created from cut up pieces of her weavings. This exhibition will include new works from her “Museum Collection Works”. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m,. Saturday from 12 to 4 p.m, and by appointment only. Please refer to the gallery’s website: artforthesoulgallery.com for programmatic events in conjunction with the exhibition. This exhibition is made possible in part by a grant from the Springfield Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, The Barr Foundation, and the Community Foundation of Western MASS.
VIEW PHOTOS FROM THE EXHIBIT
Photos by Richard W. Bulda
ABOUT THE ARTIST
ED JOHNETTA MILLER is an author, fiber artist, teacher, independent curator, and former Arts Management Envoy from the US to Cote D’Ivoire, Ivory Coast.
Widely exhibited in the US and internationally, her quilts can be found in numerous museums and private collections such as the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Museum of Art, Washington DC, The Contemporary Quilt Museum, Golden Colorado, The Wadsworth Museum of Art, Hartford Ct., Nelson’s Mandela’s National Museum, Cape Town, South Africa, Safeco Corporation, Johnson & Johnson Corporation, Hartford Hospital, Michigan State University, Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, US Embassy in Cotonou, Benin, West Africa and in 2019, US Embassy in Chad, US Embassy, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She was also commissioned by the West Hartford Art League to design five quilts for a mural project on the grounds of the Art League.
The Sunday New York Times featured Ed Johnetta in the Best of the Best series. Again in 2020, one of her quilts, around Black Lives Matter, was featured in the New York Times, Best of the Best series. She has received many awards for her role as an artist, community leader, including Connecticut’s most prestigious artistic award, The Governor’s Award.
Ed Johnetta has been featured on HGTV, Simply Quilts, Modern Master’s Holiday Show, Debbie Allen’s series “Cool Women”, Visionaries, WGBH-Boston and 2020, Christian Science Monitors “People Making a Difference”.