Her works were produced largely during the final semester of her master of fine arts degree that she earned from James Madison University (Harrisonburg, Va.) in 2007. “The large mixed media on paper pieces are from a series of nine pieces that were produced fairly spontaneously after having completed a number of the smaller paper pieces,” she explains. “I often work rather quickly, moving from one piece to another as not to interrupt a kind of rhythmic flow of ideas.”
According to Sauder-Miller, while she waits for one portion of a piece to dry, she works on a smaller piece. “Often, the imagery is similar and repetitive due to my working process, while the gestural marks change from one piece to another due to a change of scale. I feel as though I hold onto one idea or symbol until I have used it in every way possible, then it changes and shifts, both in meaning and form, as I use it again in a later piece.”
Sauder-Miller says she is fascinated with the mystery of life, the transient quality of the body, and a sense of the unknown future. “The ideas of the seed that does not germinate, the sperm and egg that cannot seem to unite at the right time to form a child, the baby that suddenly dies, the person who grows old and develops a fatal disease, or a body suddenly broken and in need of repair are just as important to me in the spectrum of life as all the occurrences that happen “the right way.” I feel a sense of rhythm from these larger life cycles as well as from my own personal patterns of life. My recent work suggests and explores the rhythm of life.”
Sauder-Miller, also a 2003 graduate of Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, is on maternity leave for six months from her work as a part-time professor of Art at Blue Ridge Community College (Weyers Cave, Va.) and James Madison University.
Sauder-Miller lives in Harrisonburg with her husband Mark. They met at Hesston College in 2000. They have two daughters, Teagan, 2, and Finnly, 6 weeks old. “We enjoy spending our limited free time playing with our girls, going to basketball games, and swimming,” she said. “I try to paint whenever I have the chance.”