Biography
Tanya Miller tells us that when creating works of art it is important to her that they are meaningful, beautiful, positive and emotional.
- Beautiful – because there is too much ugliness in today’s world.
- Meaningful – because without meaning life would be empty and worthless.
- Positive – because positive art is my escape from the hardship of reality.
- Emotional – because when we feel we live. Art is my past, my present, and my future. It is my life.
Since her early childhood, Tanya has been influenced by art and literature. First, her father is a well-known artist and printmaker. Second, she loves to read: Books give me so many ideas and emotional excitement that I need to pour them out somewhere. Art serves as the best means for that purpose. When I was a student, nothing was better for me than to come back from school, pick up a book, cover myself with a warm blanket, and read, read, read. Books transport me to other countries, other times.
I can live through different experiences and feel different emotions. It helps me to develop my imagination and provides a lot of inspiration in art.
Tanya was born in Khabarovsk, Russia in 1979. This is right along the Chinese border. When she was a young child her family moved to Kaliningrad at the opposite end of Russia–on the Polish border. She studied at Kaliningrad University for three years and then went on to complete her fine arts degree at Dordt College in Iowa in 2004. Tanya is now married living with her family in Montreal, Canada.
Ms. Miller likes to experiment and try new things, so her artwork is very different. Some concepts are just playful, some allegorical, and others have deep, personal meaning. But whatever she makes, Tanya relates to emotion or mood. Her ideas come from the subconscious. First, she visualizes the image, then transfers them into her sketchbook. Sometimes she can sit for hours on the sofa just daydreaming about the concept. When she comes up with the idea she sketches out the image. Tanya calculates that only one out of 20 ideas in her sketchbook will actually come to life.
Tanya Miller has had her work exhibited in several galleries in the United States and abroad.
- 1979 – Born in Khabarovsk, Russia
- 2004 – Graduated with a Fine arts degree from Dordt College, USA
Now lives and works in Montreal, Quebec, Canada