Biography

Since receiving a BFA from OCADU in 2013, Shantel has exhibited in group shows and art fairs across Toronto, Alberta, and Miami and has placed work in numerous private collections. She is the recipient of the 2021 Dedalus Foundation MFA Painting and Sculpture Fellowship, the Elizabeth Greenshields Grant and the Esther B. and Albert S. Kahn Career Entry Award. Shantel currently lives and works in Boston, MA where she recently completed an MFA in Painting at Boston University.

Approach and works on display

Shantel Miller’s figurative paintings create visual language to transcend the lived and imagined experiences of her inner world. While exploring constructs of race, gender, and religion, she pulls from personal narrative as a departure point for understanding broader social realities. Her collage-like approach to image making suggests relationships of tension and intimacy between signifiers that influence perception and identity. What arises is uncommon imagery sometimes depicted with isolated moments of photorealism and bold colours to evoke emotional tonality within subject matter.

Bread of Life, I Have Authority, In Hidden Places, Krystal and Mary, Mickhailia, Out of a Dark Place, Self Portrait, The Meeting Place, The Ultimate Gift, We’re at War (2010-ongoing)

For this festival, Miller presents a series of her 10 recent oil paintings reproduced in print format. Often using high contrast colours and alternating perspectives to depict beauty, intimacy, vulnerability and complexity of everyday encounters in her inner and outer world, her paintings elucidate the social constructs of race, gender and belief systems, and invite viewers to contemplate the narrative and to take on an imaginative journey through them. For Miller, “Experiencing a work of art is like meeting someone new. You’re not going to know everything about them at first, with each encounter more information will be revealed to you.”

Works by the artist