Text by Joanne M. Anderson
Photos courtesy of Francesa
Frances A. Miller, the award-winning Christiansburg artist who signs her work simply Francesa, picked up a side gig once as a delivery person. “Many of my routes were along the New River and on back roads, and I saw so much of nature in these Appalachian Mountains that inspired me to paint it,” she relates. “I love wood, trees, rocks, water, mountains, all of it.”
The Backstory
Miller’s art experiences began in kindergarten. “I became an artist the day I was introduced to finger painting.” Growing up and moving frequently in a military family, she drew pictures of something she saw in every state on cross country road trips. “Everywhere we moved in the U.S. and in Europe, my parents sought out the local hikes and natural attractions for us [six] kids,” she recalls.
Miller attended college intent on majoring in music, particularly voice. “You had to be one of the best, and I wasn’t, so I switched to art education, even though I did not want to teach.” As the years rolled along, she thought she might end up in the Washington, D.C., area, though readily says “too many people”. After her dad died, her mother, then in Florida, asked her to come live with her.
She did that, all the while longing for a place with mountains, waterfalls and four seasons. The New River Valley met her simple, all-natural requirements, and when she was in a position to go anywhere, she moved to Christiansburg, knowing no one, in 2021.
Recent Awards
The State Fair of Virginia was launched in 1854 by the Virginia State Agricultural Society and has evolved into an exciting 10-day event in Doswell, about 30 minutes north of Richmond. From the entertainment and agricultural exhibits to the artisan market and a plethora of fair-style food and drinks, the event attracts between 210,000 and 250,000 fair goers.
There are more than two dozen categories in the Culinary & Creative Arts competition, and Frances Miller most recently – a couple months ago – was awarded First Place and Best of Section for her painting “Appalachian Lakeside”. It embodies all of nature that she loves for its wood, trees, rocks, water and mountains. A campfire and two lipstick red Adirondack chairs beckon the viewer to tiptoe into the tranquility.
Additionally, Miller received a coveted Honorable Mention for “The Last of Winter”, a creative collage of natural twigs and bark. It is the keen eye of an artist who sees a twig and imagines an art piece. And it is Miller whom you might see strolling through a woodland after a storm seeking pieces of downed wood. “It’s art material,” she’ll tell you.
Where some sigh at the presence of a knot in an otherwise perfectly good piece of wood, Miller celebrates it. “I can bleach it out and make it the moon, shimmering on a body of water [“Night Lake”]. Or use it for the backdrop of an art piece named “Autumn Panel” with more twigs and wee individual hydrangea petals for leaves.”
Finger Painting Still
When a poor college student, Miller could not afford oil, so she painted with acrylics, a favorite medium. “It washes off better than oil,” she offers.
She dabbles in AI and digital art and was commissioned last year to paint the stream and 3-dimensional waterfall on Draper Street in Blacksburg. The signal box in front of National Bank of Blacksburg on Main Street is her work. She especially enjoys creating distinctive visual features that bring art and the natural world together in a public setting.
And while Miller is very comfortable with brushes in hand, she is still finger painting. “There are many things a finger can do in smearing, swirling and moving paint for just the right effect in a scene that a brush simply cannot accomplish.”
francesa-miller.pixels.com
Francesami14@gmail.com
This story appears in the November–December issue of New River Valley Magazine.
