In the beginning Adia Millett focused on other facets of her talent like installation, sculpture, embroidery, photography, video and drawing. Until five years ago when quilting, her present giving hobby, became yet another facet to exhibit her art and explores these metaphorical space.

How did you make it down to Miami?
A couple of months ago I got a call from Dan. He had received a recommendation of my work and asked me if I wanted to come down to Miami. I was like 'how can I make this work’, but luckily I figured out. It's a dream come true. There are no distractions and getting to work with the curators and other collectors and artists has been very inspiring.

Has Miami influenced your work?
Definitely, all I have been doing is sculpture quilts. 95% of the fabrics are repurposed or recycled meaning they come from thrift stores or have been handed down to me from people of Miami. That's been the direction of the palette, it’s simply based on the materials found here which are pretty diverse. There are so many different cultures in this community so that it can range from military fatigue to African textiles and everything in between.  

The pieces I've been working on here have diverse backgrounds: fabrics from a Jamaican cooking apron, from a balinese skirt, from summer dresses and I brought a 70s dress, that a dear friend from California made. Everything comes from different locations, like this old lady's church jacket.. It's about piecing all these cultures together while taking the fabrics apart. By chance I found this superman bed sheet and wanted to use the fist with a reference to black power..

This piece - the flying coffee table - started initially as rectangular shape then I cut it, took it apart and while putting it back together it morphed into a flying saucer. From there it became my flying coffee table. Nothing is square or rectangular, it always takes a different shape. The second things start to be too symmetrical or too well placed, I immediately start to figure out how I can break that up. Floating kites have been a reference and I added these threads to the “black cloud in the sky” to add a playful element, while maintaining the classic clean quilting quality. 

Surprising nature has played in more then the architecture here in Miami. I never do anything too literal, like the fish and the black cloud but they have taken on another story from what I see outside. The colours, more pinks and blues, but also the black cloud in the sky signifies something personal. When I started to make it, it became about a story my father told me about my great great grandfather, that had done something and was going to be lynched. He had told his family that there will be a grey cloud that would sweep the sky, when he passes.

Why quilting?
Quilting became part of my works about 5 years ago. I had invested in many different craft forms and sat down with a quilter from Seattle to learn the basics. I started to make them and to give them to friends. I wanted to move away from the art world to make things and not think about them as a product to be sold. But 2 years ago the gallery that I work with wanted some and I decided why not. So last year was the first time I exhibited in NY. The great benefits of quilting are: that they are not heavy, I can work with them anywhere and for that, it was perfect for my time here. When I work with sculptures I leave them and come back to it.

Vagina quilt
This is the first piece that I did here. It was a happy accident. I love the contradiction of the camouflage, putting this feminine and masculine together. It's just one of the beautiful things that happen when you are collecting fabrics and find something hideous but you love it anyways. I can find beauty in everything that looks messy, ugly, old, deceptive or tacky. I started layering these fabrics and it took the shape of a shield/vagina, I call her Ionia.. Warrior Ionia. It's really the only one that has had a name.

What's next?
This summer I'll be back in Oakland and doing a show there. But I also want to see my pieces in a museum so I'm going on a bigger scale.  

Check out Wyatt Gallery & Moran Kliger as part of the fountainhead series.
photos & words by Marchi Marchell