Artist Statement

I create objects, installations, words and wonder. Portraits, poems, porcelain armadillos and ceramic peanuts. I sometimes shoot within a transparent bubble, listening to strangers share their deepest truths in the hopes of helping them to set it free or make it be. I create watercolor bruises that remind me of my grandmother’s knees.

Crucial to my growth as an artist is the ability to engage my community or offer a voice to topics requiring deeper conversation. How can teen portraits for at-risk youth made with torn paper depict the layers of emotion in their complicated life? Can a room full of white balloons — some standing, some floating, some withered and deflated lying on the ground, impress upon its audience the innocent lives lost through gun violence in American schools? And what does it feel like to see 200 ceramic animals piled precariously on top of one another under a cloud of suspended baby’s breath? Will you gasp? Can you breathe? How many took their last breaths, alone, during covid19?  

I believe in the power of art to communicate emotion, ideals, concepts and disruptive thought to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. I create as a process to solve for questions in which answers aren’t meant to be found.

About the Artist

Jami Milne (she/her/hers) is an artist, photographer and writer located in the heart of no-coast country. Her installation work often navigates toward the intersection of artist/artwork and its audience, identifying where the two can meet to create the greatest impact.

She has partnered on visual collaborations with Ballet Des Moines, Des Moines Public Schools, dsm Magazine, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Vice Media for Levi’s and others. Her work has been shown in galleries in Iowa, Arizona, Vermont, California and New York City.

Jami lives in Des Moines, Iowa with her husband Ben, children Finn and Margaux and a menagerie of pets. Find more of her work, including information on the Creative Confessional and custom commissions at jamimilne.com.