Meghan Miller & Mike Miller 

When The Aliens Come to Earth, They Will Judge Us by the Quality of Our Art

March 6 - May 29, 2026

Main Gallery

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ARTIST TALK | SATURDAY, APRIL 4th, 2026 | 1:00PM

RSVP

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Artist Statements

Mike Miller:

Everything is a machine, and there are two main types, human-made and nature-made machines. For instance trees are natural machines that absorb carbon dioxide and create oxygen, and human made machines such as the printing press, birth control pill, smartphones, etc. These machines both natural and human-made have initiated nearly all changes in human culture. These machines have also driven nearly all the changes in Earth’s environment both good and bad.

With these sculptures I hope to illustrate that we as individuals are personally responsible for Earth’s environment. I also believe that as human technology advances the difference between natural and human-made machines will decrease until they eventually blend together, and that the merging of the two is a good thing that can eventually fix the Earth’s environmental problems.

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Then when the real Aliens come to Earth they will judge us by the quality of our art. 

So sort of as an insurance policy in case the real Aliens judge us harshly. Wise people should have a little ceramic Alien Deity to keep on a shelf in their house. 

It can’t hurt, and might keep you & your family from getting beamed up, or conversely, if it sounds fun, put you first in line to get beamed up:~)

 

Meghan Miller:

I aim to make beautiful spaces for people to meet, to gather together or visit alone, to feel easy, to have fun or sit quietly. Third places are essential to healthy societies, and often overlooked in a culture of individualism. Installation art can fulfill both the soul’s need for beauty and the need for connection and comfort. 

 

 

Text for Ceramic Alien Kiosk:

When the real Aliens come to Earth they will judge us by the quality of our art. 

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So sort of as an insurance policy in case the real Aliens judge us harshly everyone should have one of these little ceramic Alien deities on a shelf in their house. 

 

Artist Bio:

Mike Miller is best known for his Machine-Nature Interface series of sculptures. These machine-nature forms combine a natural object with a man made object, creating a machine that produces an original movement or action. Most of Mike’s works are kinetic, whether powered by a motor and salvaged gears, hand crank, the wind, or kids on a swing set. The movements produced echo the machinations of nature itself- plants’ production of oxygen, the orbit of a moon around a planet. As man made machines and nature made machines advance the difference between the two becomes indistinguishable. Mike was born, raised, and educated in Kansas and finds inspiration and materials for both the machine and the nature aspects of his work around his home and studio in rural Butler County.

 

Meghan Miller is an mutli-diciplinery installation artist based in Wichita, Kansas and living in rural Butler County, Kansas. She earned an MFA in Sculpture from Wichita State University in 2022 and a BFA in painting from Wichita State in 2009. In the ten years in between Miller worked as a substitute teacher, museum event staff, vintage clothing seller, and was one-half of installation and performance art duo Linnebur & Miller along with Hallie Linnebur. Miller has often created artwork that is humorous and experience-based, bridging the gaps between installation art, costuming, entertainment, spectacle, and party decor, which informs her current interest in creating spaces for people to “just be”- to interact with others, to be alone, to be somewhere magical, to, in the words of Louise Nevelson, “rest and have some fun.”

 

Mike and Meghan have been married for 13 years and have had the good luck to create art together, including the “tieflatable” on display here..

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