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Work Samples

Industrial Forest

Industrial Forest, oil on panel, 19 1/4 x 48 inches, 2020

Crosswinds

Crosswinds, oil and collage on paper, 30 x 22 inches, 2020

Color Riot

Color Riot, oil on canvas, 48 x 66 inches, 2019

Walk with Me

Walk With Me, mat board and mixed media collage on panel, 58 x 70 inches, 2017

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About Trace

Baltimore County

Trace Miller's picture
Trace Miller is a painter and educator from Baltimore Maryland. He received his BFA from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Hoffberger School of Painting. Miller is a Lecturer and Assistant Chair in the Department of Art + Design, Art History, Art Education at Towson University. His works have been exhibited extensively in the Mid Atlantic region as well as New York and Chicago. Miller’s work has been featured in publications such as New American... more

New Work

Work completed in 2020.

Recent Work II

The most recent black and white line abstractions capture the fractal nature of trees as the antennae in a playful underlying grid for sharing natures bountiful source of energy and language.

Trees I

In my career and life, I experienced some sudden familiar losses that put me on the path to this work. Enigmatic yet narrative, these paintings and collages of trees in winter appear to be dead but are only lying dormant until spring breathes new life. They allude to the fragility of life and their fragmented quality freezes the moment in time, a futile attempt to prevent it from ever happening in the first place.

  • Silent Winter

    oil on canvas, 38 x 60 inches, 2004
  • The Rose Forest

    oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches, 2004
  • Ornaments

    oil and collage on canvas, 69 1/2 x 47, 2004
  • Sylvan Winter

    mat board collage and gouache on panel, 36 x 48 inches, 2008
  • Winter Wood

    mixed media collage on panel, 40 x 48 inches, 2009
  • Narrowing Horizon

    mixed media collage and messotint on panel, 36 x 26 inches, 2011
  • Roots

    acrylic on paper, 47 x 45 inches, 2009
  • Frost

    oil on canvas, 60 x 44 inches, 2008
  • Empress

    mixed media collage on panel, 44 x 44 inches, 2009
  • Particle Accelerator

    oil on canvas, 84 x 96 inches, 2008

Trees II

This is a continuing body of work of mixed media paintings and collages of bare winter trees on canvas and paper. They are not landscapes in the traditional sense but rather statements about loss and renewal. My studio practice balances process and experimentation with concept. The content evolves with the process – the work is strongest when the two are inherently intertwined.

  • Outreach

    oil on canvas, 48 x 40 inches, 2006
  • Vortex

    oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches, 2004
  • First Light

    oil on canvas, 25 x 29 inches, 2008
  • Labyrinth

    oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches, 2004
  • Winterscape

    oil and collage on panel, 18 x 18 inches, 2002
  • Seasons I

    acrylic and oil on paper, 30 x 22 inches, 2009
  • Seasons II

    acrylic, oil and colored pencil on paper, 30 x 22 inches, 2009
  • Seasons III

    acrylic, oil and colored pencil on paper, 30 x 22 inches, 2009
  • Seasons IV

    acrylic, oil and colored pencil on paper, 30 x 22 inches, 2009
  • White Out

    oil on canvas, 21 x 36 inches, 2002

Roses

For centuries, artists have created images and objects to represent spiritual and/or religious feelings. A rose, known to be nature’s symbol of perfection and beauty, is something I’ve been working with since 1991. Over the years, the rose has become a vehicle whose singularity allows me to experiment with a variety of media. Whether the rose is frozen or isolated, it harnesses’ and focuses energy, like a sacred icon.

Print Work

Intaglio, lithograph, screenprint and mezzotint- limited edition prints produced at the Towson University Print Studio, Towson, MD and Pyramid Atlantic, Chevy Chase, MD.

  • At This Place

    mezzotint, 6 x 9 inches, 1989
  • Odyssey

    unique monotype with chine colle mezzotint on paper pulp painting, ed 24, 22 1/2 x 29 inches, 1989
  • American Beauty Series

    intaglio, a/p, 15 x 11 inches, 2006
  • Red

    intaglio, ed 12, 15 x 11 inches, 2006
  • White

    intaglio, ed. 12, 15 x 11 inches, 2006
  • Frozen Forest

    2 color screenprint, a/p, 22 x 30 inches, 2007
  • Tumbleweed

    lithograph and gouache on paper, 17 x 17 inches, 2008
  • The Clearing

    lithograph, ed. 20, 17 x 17 inches, 2007
  • Prism

    screenprint, ed. 20, 24 x 32 inches, 2007
  • Phoenix Rising

    lithograph, ed. 20, 15 x 11 inches, 2010

Monoprints

Trees control the flow of energy within any forest. Whether soaring high or spreading out to capture available light, for me, they are the most magnificent engines of struggle and adaptability. I do not view my work as traditional landscapes, but rather as representations of raw environments with basic instincts for survival.

These monoprints were produced on a 30 x 40 inch sheet of plexi and printed on Rives BFK, Towson University Print Shop.

Early Work I

In all eras humans have longed for Gods and heros, in our time they seem especially lacking. We have looked to our artists who gave us only past glories – Greece, Rome. We love old, crumbled walls.

In Trace Miller we have an artist who erects a wall of paint, and then finds evidence of beauty – a flower, a vase. He presents the modern man, vulnerable and exposed not to spears and arrows, but to the wounds of modern life. All of these paintings are bathed in a silver light which gives us hope. If we have brave artists then we still have heros.

Grace Hartigan

Early Work II

This early work was heavily affected by a year of studying abroad in Rome during my undergraduate years. In that work I created idiosyncratic narratives where autobiographical and art historical elements  merged in a world where more questions were asked then answered. The overriding message in this work is a search for identity in finding a place to exist within the art world.

Trace's Curated Collection

This artist has not yet created a curated collection.