A Multi-Media Journey of Resilience, Fiber Art, and Painting by Julie Miles

Three summers ago, in a lightkeeper’s house-turned-museum off the coast of Maine, Julie Miles was asked a simple but piercing question: “Who are you outside of your family?”
“Made of This” is her answer.
After an eight-year hiatus from painting to support her family through her husband’s early-onset Parkinson’s diagnosis, Miles returns to her artistic practice with work rooted in resilience, devotion, and rediscovery. What began as an homage to her farming grandparents evolved into an immersive exploration of material, labor, and belonging.
For this body of work, Miles learned to process and spin raw wool, dye fibers with plants over an open fire, and weave twill cloth on a vintage four-shaft loom. She turned to pinhole photography to create self-portraits in the landscapes of her Michigan youth—beaches, open fields, and rural expanses that echo memory and identity.
Blending fiber, photography, and painting, “Made of This” honors both the harshness and tenderness of life. It invites viewers to dwell in the quiet space where grief and joy coexist, where materials “dictate” their own becoming, and where loving it all—labor, loss, beauty, play—leads to a life well lived.
Join us for the opening reception on April 3rd and experience a powerful return to art shaped by devotion, discovery, and the enduring act of making.

April 3 – 26
Monday – Friday, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Reception: April 3, 5:00 – 6:30 PM
at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts