Leslie Van Stavern Millar II
Millar is a visual artist who lives and works in Western Montana.
She participates wholeheartedly in the cultural life of her community.
Artist Statement
I have been enthralled by both the visual world and the world of ideas since I was a girl.
Following my graduation in 1972 from Mount Holyoke College, where I was the first student to create an Interdepartmental Degree in Studio Art and Biology, I moved to Montana. This was based on my need for a permanent home surrounded by nature and a place in which to develop my work independent from the dominant national art scene.
As a child I was intrigued by the Persian art I saw at first hand. My family lived in Iran during the 1950’s. Watching artists in the bazaar working directly with their materials made a strong impression on me. As an adult artist I found that I could approximate the effect of Persian miniature painting with gouache on paper. Discovering that I had an aptitude for the medium, I taught myself gouache painting in 1977 at a time when gouache was out of fashion.
I began to paint in series, creating narrative work with flat surfaces, a bottom-to-top perspective and great attention to pattern and detail. Although initially working large, I was drawn to working on a smaller size, which promoted a feeling of intimacy.
I also like to work with a variety of media, each facilitating a different aspect of visual expression. For example, I have devoted many years to developing my own approach to encaustic art. The plasticity and transparency of heated and colored beeswax allows for more abstract, semi-accidental marks and is well suited to pairing with my photography.
Periodically I am drawn to printmaking as a different and challenging way in which to work. With printmaking, I have enjoyed both the aspect of producing multiples of the same image as well as the unique qualities of monotypes.
In my art I am preoccupied with several recurring themes – the Garden of Eden, amphora, young women, forest fire landscapes, mystical symbols, plant forms, scientific imagery, fairy tales and myths, hearts, rosebushes, billboard art, and wild versus cultivated nature. My collections of children’s science books and eccentric objects, inform my work.
For me, one of the best things about being an artist is the opportunity to explore my ideas and themes over time through paint, ink, wax and pencil.
Leslie Van Stavern Millar
Selected Resume
I have been exhibiting my art work in galleries, museums and art centers since 1972.
Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions/ Presentations:
2022 Pattee Canyon Ladies Salon: Focus on the Figure, Montana Museum of Art and Culture,
University of Montana, Missoula, MT.
2022 My History of Trees, Video and Talk,
Class of 1972 50th reunion, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA.
2021 Bigfork Independent Film Festival, Bigfork Performing Arts Center, Bigfork, MT.
International Wildlife Film Festival, Online Festival, Missoula, MT.
The Space of Hope - The Extraction Project, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT.
2020 Women’s Work, Juried by Jill Ahlberg Yohe of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Yellowstone Art
Museum, Billings, MT.
2019 New Work in Gouache, Baardskeersbos Art Route,
Baardskeerdersbos, South Africa
2018 Montana Peepshow Stories : Montana Art Gallery Director’s
Association Traveling Show:
Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT
2017 Holter Museum, Helena, MT
Carbon County Artists Guild, Red Lodge, MT
2016 Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT
2014 Cabinet of Curiosities, Babcock Gallery, Sweetbriar College,
Amherst, VA
2012 Timeless/Transient – New Encaustic Panels, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA
2011 Montana Women in the Visual Arts, 1860 - 2011, Emerson gallery, Bozeman, MT
Caravan Project Print Portfolio, Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Great Falls, MT
An Ideal Girl – Gouache Paintings, Brink Gallery, Missoula, MT
Selected Residencies, Grants and Awards
2022 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellowship, Amherst, VA.
Eight residencies since 2003
2022 Strategic Investment Grant, Montana Arts Council, Helena, MT.
Seven grants since 2007
2022 CARES Grants, Montana Arts Council, Helena, MT
2016 PROP Foundation Individual Artist Grant, Missoula, MT
2014 Grand Prize & Prize for Creative Parade Entry, Science Woman
and Science Women-in-training, July 4th Parade, Arlee, MT. 2014
Geoff Pepos made a 4-minute video documenting this event. LINK
2014 International Wildlife Film Festival Grant, 2014 parade entry,
Missoula, MT
2010 Merit Award, Americas 2010 – Paperworks, Northwest Art Center,
Minot State University, Minot, ND
Selected Recent Articles, Interviews and Media
2021 Post Film Interview with Leslie V.S. Millar and Festival Director
Carrie Richer, International Wildlife Film Festival, Missoula and Arlee,
MT
2020 Extraction - Art on the Edge of the Abyss, Catalog and Exhibition
Guide, Editor Peter Koch, Codex Foundation, Page 580
My History of Trees, Video by Leslie V. S. Millar
First Experience of Life Drawing, Video by Leslie V.S.Millar
Leslie V. S. Millar Interview about Hager’s Exhibit - Equal:
A work in Progress, StoryCorp Connect Interview, Missoula Art
Museum, Missoula, MT
Interview for Women’s Work Exhibit - Leslie Van Stavern Millar &
Curator Amanda Quiroz, Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT​
2018 Artist Embodies Queen of England in time-traveling peepshow,
by Anna Paige, Billings Gazette, Billings, MT
An Art Filled Visit to Billings, by Darla Worden, Mountain Living
Magazine, Billings, MT
2016 Taking a Peek at Montana History, Rendered in Gouache, by Cory
Walsh, Missoulian, Missoula, MT
The First Queen Elizabeth Time Travels to Montana, Montana Book
Festival, Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT
Education
1972 Bachelor of Arts, Interdepartmental Degree in Studio Art and
Biology, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
Selected Collections/Public
City of Missoula, Missoula, MT
Federal Reserve Bank of Northwest US, Minneapolis, MN
Jundt Art Museum, Spokane, WA
Missoula Art Museum, Missoula, MT
Missoula Public Library, Missoula, MT
Montana Museum of Art and Culture, University of MT, Missoula, MT
Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Great Falls, MT
Contact
I am pleased to engage with interested parties regarding my art work and career.