‘Observations’ Spotlight Environmental Anomalies

Austin artist Melissa W. Miller enjoyed drawing animals in her youth but as the decades progressed she grew determined to show how their habitats are affected by the changing environment. Observations: Works by Melissa W. Miller is the title of her solo exhibition at the Tyler Museum of Art on display through August 6.

Miller’s techniques include bright colors, a combination of delicate and broad brushstrokes, and a variety of media. Her subjects skillfully spotlight how pollution, climate change, and displacement by commercial agriculture are affecting animals in myriad ways — from waste littering the ocean floor to destructive forest fires of the Western U.S.

The exhibition includes Miller’s works from museums created over the past four decades and currently in collections around the nation. Several that spotlight environmental changes are both poetic and graceful yet absurd and disturbing.

In “Wild Grapes and Tulip Magnolias” (2011), a roadside tulip tree blooms next to barren grapevines that contrast with a garish orange traffic cone and discarded construction netting.

Another work titled “Plate Coral” (2015) juxtaposes a discarded broken cup below the graceful beauty of a coral reef.

Miller’s art portrays a serious mission and appears at once alarming and insightful. “My more recent portrayals of predator and prey are rooted in actual circumstance and observable reality,” Miller says. “I understand my current narrative position akin to that of a reporter.”

Miller is the recipient of many awards. She was named Texas State Visual Artist of the Year by the Texas Legislature in 2011. Her paintings are in the permanent collections of the Modern Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution, and other prominent collections. The Tyler Museum of Art is open Tuesday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. For information call (903) 5951001 or visit www.tylermuseum.org.