The Warner Art Gallery welcomed alumna Molly Miller ’10 on Monday, October 27^th.  The artist returned to campus to open an exhibit that grapples with memory, loss, and the impossibility of preserving what we hold dear. Students, employees, and alumni filled Warner Gallery to experience her contemplative exploration of how we build, and inevitably fail to complete, the archives of our lives.

“A lot of this work is a continuation of some stuff I’ve been thinking about around the construction of an archive, and how we build these archives of our lives,” Miller says. “I’m interested in the ways that different people record the events and emotions that they experience, and how those records are inevitably insufficient. There’s always something that gets left out.”

Her work draws from deeply personal sources: Miller’s own photographs, her family’s photo archives, film stills, and more. Although she only began painting five years ago—Miller discovered her passion for art during the pandemic—her technical approach demonstrates sophisticated layering techniques. She creates an underpainting first, then builds layers on top while deliberately erasing portions. “I like to leave some of that underpainting revealed to kind of get at what’s on the surface versus what’s underneath the surface,” she says.

Viewers responded warmly to the exhibition’s emotional resonance. Visual arts instructor Charlese Phillips described the work as “expressive” with “a lot of line and texture,” noting that the paintings reminded her of Van Gogh’s expressive brushwork. The portraits in particular struck a chord with Phillips, who praised Miller’s ability to capture emotion through the subjects’ eyes and the sense of “peacefulness and gentle connection” that emanates from the canvases.

Brooke Barry ’27 found herself drawn to the impressionistic quality of Miller’s technique. “I think a lot of the paint strokes make me think of emotions, especially when it comes to some of these human figures laying down,” Barry says. She was particularly captivated by Miller’s drip method on domestic objects. “I like how she uses the drip method on a lot of the pillows and the sofa,” she says.  “That really stands out to me.”

For Miller, the exhibition represents more than just technical skill. It’s about creating opportunities for connection. “I think a lot about encounters, and having an encounter with someone,” she says. “These photographs that I’ve taken are preserving these encounters. I hope that the paintings and the video work and the photos can all become a chance for a new kind of encounter to happen between the painting and the viewer.”

Margaret Adle ’27 felt that connection deeply. “I think the colors are very vibrant. They’re very bright, warm, kind of like innocence,” she says. “It feels very comforting in a way.”

Miller’s exhibition demonstrates the power of grappling with profound questions about memory, preservation, and human connection, themes that continue to resonate long after viewers leave the gallery. You can view the work until November 14.