Having collected natural objects all her life, Miller Opie’s sculpture is inspired by the beauty found within organic materials. Opie combines animal bone with lead, copper, chain, and screws and occasionally includes wood and ceramic compounds. Her sculptures combine a sense of transformation with her brazen acceptance of mortality.

Between 2009-2013 during a career designing products from jewelry to Martha Stewart craft kits and items for the home, Miller Opie underwent extensive surgeries to rebuild her jawbone after the discovery of multiple benign tumors in her mandible. Throughout, Opie joked that receiving surgery was her new hobby, replacing her creative pursuits with physical exams, operations, and recovery. This time spent gave Opie ample opportunity to consider the significance of bone as a material in life and in creation. Each procedure added foreign materials to her body: a titanium plate, screws, and staples. She would examine each new Xray and marvel at her body’s resilience and ability to adopt these foreign materials. These experiences forced conflicting realizations: appreciation of her physical ability to adapt and survive trauma, combined with a deep anxiety over her appearance and the fear that the procedures will eventually fail. 

By combining animal bone with other materials in her sculptures, Opie ameliorates her experiences by celebrating the intimacy of both life and decay. She often incorporates forms that mimic her surgeries and depicts the various stages and emotions associated with the process. The overall impression is one of fragile strength, questioning the nature of support and highlighting the vulnerability inherent in reconstructed forms.

Miller Opie’s sculptures are infused with an appreciation for the cycle of life and celebrate the imperfections and perils that make it truly exquisite.