Artwork copyright Wendy Franklund Miller. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Dreams of a Chippewa Past, 1984

Wendy Franklund Miller
(American, born 1943)

Location: Marysville-Pilchuck High School, Marysville

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Dreams of a Chippewa Past is a collage created by artist Wendy Franklund Miller using handmade paper, willow sticks, and screen printed shapes. It is part of her "Chippewa Myth Series" of artworks. The series is based on her memories and experiences growing up in North Dakota. She was told as a child that she had ancestors from the Chippewa tribe. Only as an adult did she discover that she did not have Native American heritage. The series investigates her identity and imagination. She notes that this piece "symbolizes fragments of dreams of an Indian life lived many lives before this one."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Marysville School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Spokane-based artist Wendy Franklund Miller creates art using a variety of materials and techniques, including artist-made papers, encaustic paintings (made using melted wax), printmaking, and ink drawings. Her artworks explore a visual language of forms and symbols and is "mostly focused on discarded objects with all their implications for our civilization."
Franklund Miller was born in North Dakota and raised in Yakima, Central Washington. After art school and college, she settled in Spokane, Eastern Washington, where she has lived and worked since 1976.