Micki
Spiller
Media:
Multi-Disciplinary, Illustration
Studio Location:
Studio 34 -- 34-01 38th Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101
Room/Studio#
442
Website:
Artist Bio:
Micki Watanabe Spiller is an interdisciplinary artist whose work is rooted in a deep reverence for books as tactile vessels of knowledge, memory, and connection. Her practice is informed equally by reading, writing, and making—treating the book not only as a physical structure but as a conceptual framework for community, storytelling, and exchange. Drawing on years of literary immersion, she constructs embroidered garments and sculptural “book jackets” that reimagine texts as wearable, intimate architectures. Her process begins with book selection and journaling, evolving into sewn forms embedded with language, narrative themes, and layered imagery. These works propose alternative modes of communication—public and private, solitary and communal—where garments become sites of intellectual and emotional engagement. Spiller has been awarded grants from Printed Matter, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and Art Matters, and has held residencies at Bemis Center, Smack Mellon, Saltonstall, and World Views at the World Trade Center. She holds an MFA from Ohio State and teaches at Parsons and Pratt Institute.
Artist Statement:
Though my background is in the visual arts, I’ve relished reading and listening to stories for as long as I can remember. As an artist I try to depict communication between people through the objects I make. I love how written words combine to become sentences, then paragraphs, in turn becoming love letters or stories to be distributed among friends or strangers. I like to think that these stories that narrate each individuals personal stories and moments can be shared, just as book recommendations bring friends closer.
I accidentally became a storyteller due to receiving a grant from an organization called the Laundromat Project, where I created an intervention at a local laundromat in the form of a mobile library. I facilitate pre-literacy storytelling programs at the Brooklyn and Queens Public libraries, which keep my work in that world. As an only child growing up, I always retreated into books and still do to this day.
I am currently working on a series of idiomatic garments, (made of embroidered fabric) where textual wordplay come to life via garments and other worn sculptures; such as “a bee in your bonnet” and “wearing your heart on your sleeve”. Different cultures have unique idioms that seem odd when translated. For example, a Japanese idiom for a person who follows you around in an annoying way is called "金魚の糞" (Kyingyo no fhun) or goldfish poop! I collect this idiosyncratic wordplay to share in a book with my audience in the future.
