Artist Digest: Adia Millett

Adia Millett
Artist Digest
Conversations
- “I had a mentor teach me how to quilt, learned the rules, and then asked myself, how can I break the rules?"
  
  Millett joins Brainard Carey on his podcast.
- "When I create a painting, it's directly connected to the way I quilt. It's about connecting the shapes and allowing something to come to the surface from that."
  
  Millett joins Emily Wilson on her podcast Art is Awesome!, discussing her approach to abstraction, craft, and the social practice and collaborations in her work.
Studio Visit

"The great thing about painting is getting to go back and forth between having a plan, and letting that plan be disrupted."

Millett shares a look into her practice in this virtual conversation with the Museum of African Diaspora.
Works
- Adia Millett
  Aura, 2021
  Acrylic with glitter on wood panel
  72 x 60 inches
  
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- Adia Millett
  East Portrait (Birth), 2023
  Acrylic on paper
  32.75 x 24.75 inches, framed
  
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- Adia Millett
  Hues of the New Moon 4, 2022
  Hand-painted lino print on folio vellum paper
  Print: 24 x 18 inches
  Paper: 30 x 22 inches
  
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- Adia Millett
  Hues of the New Moon 11, 2022
  Hand-painted lino print on folio vellum paper
  Print: 24 x 18 inches
  Paper: 30 x 22 inches
  
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- Adia Millett
  Subterranean, 2023
  Acrylic on wood panel
  48 x 84 inches
  
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- Adia Millett
  Trust, 2024
  Acrylic on wood
  48 x 48 inches
  
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- Adia Millett
  Empathy (portal), 2023-2024
  Acrylic on wood
  36 x 36 inches
  
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- Adia Millett
  What I see when I close my eyes., 2024
  Glass, grout on wood panel
  36 x 36 inches
  
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Critic's Corner
"Art-making in Millett’s scheme of things, isn’t so much an individual endeavor as it is a timeless, communal, generation-spanning affair."

Read Dave Roth's review of Adia Millett: Wisdom Keepers at ICA San José on Squarecylinder.com.
ARTIST'S PICKS

READING

Farming While Black:

Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land

Leah Penniman (Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2018)

The Geometries of Afro Asia: Art beyond Solidarity

Joan Kee (UC Press, 2023)

COOKING

Currently focused on an animal-free diet, and trying to perfect my sourdough olive loaf.

CURRENTLY DOING

Cutting glass and thinking about our collective future on this planet, spending more time with trees, and supporting every Black and Brown owned business I can.
FROM THE Vault
From the Vault

Millett was one of 28 artists included in Freestyle, The Studio Museum in Harlem's landmark 2001 exhibition. Organized by Thelma Golden and Christine Y. Kim, Freestyle was the first of five shows exhibiting the work of emerging artists of African descent. Millett joins Golden, Kim, and Sanford Biggers in this interview with Charlie Rose.
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