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Jackie Miller at Hanson Howard Gallery By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings The rich colors in Jackie Miller's paintings weren't inspired by time spent in the Southwest or Latin America. Instead, her palette has its origin in the formal rules of color theory. "I've been teaching color theory for many years," Miller said. "About eight years ago, I developed a palette that is based on an ordered arrangement of four colors - yellow, violet, red/orange and blue/green � I spent time in the Southwest and I enjoyed the colors of the canyons. But I don't think that really influenced me." Those four core colors, complemented by additional colors, saturate her abstract paintings now on display at the Hanson Howard Gallery through May 31. An Ashland resident since 1974, Miller has been an art instructor for 30 years and offers workshops in her studio. Time spent as a teacher influenced not only her balanced, sophisticated palette, but lead to the creation of the smallest works in the show that make up the Stonehenge Series and the Ayani Series. Miller took works that she had painted during her classes, cropped them down to pleasing compositions and added finishing touches. The Ayani Series features blue, purple, dusty rose, coral, yellow and occasional accents of metallic copper. The purples, pinks and yellows in the Stonehenge Series are buttressed by strong siennas, reds and a velvety purple that is nearly black. The result is beautiful, hand-sized paintings that are significantly less expensive than most works seen in galleries. "I like the idea of putting something out in the world that is truly affordable for most people," she said. While Miller has a strong interest in color and composition, she also experiments with texture. Many of the larger works have a layer of heavy acrylic gel that forms a textured surface on which Miller paints. "Once the textural base dries, I treat it with color. I like the skeletal structure of the image - that initial gesture that was always part of it," she said. Three pieces are coated only with a layer of sheer zinc white over molding paste that records Miller's strokes. Her interest in gestures also is revealed in mysterious symbols - reminiscent of Chinese writing or Aboriginal or Native American petroglyphs - that frequently appear in the paintings. "I've always done a lot of drawing. About 20 years ago, I was in a car on a road trip when instead of drawing things from the world, I started doing something like automatic writing," Miller recalled. She continues to create those spontaneous symbols. "Each one of the characters is a tiny constellation of energy that records the gesture of the moment. Sometimes they appear directly as small glyphs," Miller said. "I'm very committed to gesture. Each person has signature gestures just like handwriting. In a class of six students who are all painting an abstract gestural approach, everyone's gestures are very different." Hanson Howard Gallery, located at 82 N. Main St., is open from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. LINKS: REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. DAILY TIDINGS: Main | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -