Transcending the representational, where possibilities are closed down, Miller-Havens conveys psychological depth by inviting viewer and subject into a space of visual correspondence.

She is one of the very few artists that gets down into the soul of her subject and brings that aspect to life on canvas......remarkably so

Patrick J. RileyPresident
The Miami Heat
Art Collector,
Miller-Havens patron

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUSAN MILLER-HAVENS / ACCLAIM

Portraits

"The artist paints most of these portraits from the back, where the slump of a woman's shoulder or the attentiveness in a dog's alert stance can speak volumes about the bonds of a cherished relationship. The artist luxuriates in the color white, balancing myriad subtle shades in both the clothing and the dog's fur. The portraits are set against a background of soft gray, thrusting these relationships out of the temporal and suggesting a connection that is timeless and enduring"
Mary Jo Palumbo
Arts Reporter, Boston Herald Newspaper
For ARTnews Magazine, New York City

"She is one of the very few artists who gets down
into the soul of her subject and brings that aspect
to life on canvas ... remarkably so."
Pat Riley
President Miami HEAT
Miller-Havens Patron

"Sport as subject matter in contemporary painting is hardly an unknown, but it commonly encourages images of the utmost banality and vulgarity. From this venue Miller-Havens is many worlds apart. Her new work is trenchant, pointed, haunting. She takes a simple form such as a catcher's mask or a baseball glove and paints it with knowledge and with love so that it is at the same time a potent icon and a humble object -- as both it is beautiful, and that is her gift. Her work is beyond genre because she is a superb editor and inventor."
James Wilson Rayen
Elizabeth Christy Kopf Professor of Art
Wellesley College

Male Athletes

"There is such life in your paintings: motion, emotion,the sadness of lost youth and the joy of recognition. I cannot tell you how much I see in them or am amazed by your picking subjects which women are not supposed to understand and making us all understand them better. Truly amazing work. The only other time I saw a painting and had tears in my eyes was when I saw Guernica in Madrid"
Alan R. Spievack, M.D.
Founder,Vice President and Director of Technology ACELL, INC.
Researchers in regenerative medicine technology

"Susan Miller-Havens captures the heroic qualities in all her portraits and figure studies with a palette that includes the most subtle of color combinations. Her paintings are as much about the magic of color as the essence of heroism in her subjects."
Richard A. Johnson
Curator
The Sports Museum of New England

"Miller-Havens work allows the viewer to participate directly in the action portrayed by visually isolating that action and in the richness of the gestural painted mark."
Douglas Hilson
Professor of Art
Hofstra Museum Hofstra University

"Susan Miller-Havens addresses in her oil paintings several important themes, most especially the depiction of the usually isolated figure as male athlete in a context that transcends the specifics of time, place and commercial trivialization. The depiction of the male athlete in terms of aesthetic beauty achieved the sublime in the sculpture of ancient Greece as created by male artists. Miller-Havens seeks to add a new voice to this subject-matter, looking at the contemporary male athlete on a two dimensional plane, with a 20th century perspective, while exploring representational and abstract artistic concerns. She works toward stirring in the viewer a sense of ambiguity, timelessness and a feeling of human connection with the painting. This results in transcending specifics suggested by the individual ball player."
Sydney L. Waller
Co-curator "Diamonds Are Forever" an internationally-touring exhibition
The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Program
Arts Administrator, The New York State Historical Association

"Sport as subject matter in contemporary painting is hardly an unknown, but it commonly encourages images of the utmost banality and vulgarity. From this venue Miller-Havens is many worlds apart. Her new work is trenchant, pointed, haunting. She takes a simple form such as a catcher's mask or a baseball glove and paints it with knowledge and with love so that it is at the same time a potent icon and and a humble object--as both it is beautiful, and that is her gift. Her work is beyond genre because she is a superb editor and inventor."
James Wilson Rayen
Elizabeth Christy Kopf Professor of Art
Wellesley College

"If you like art and sports, check the web site for Susan Miller-Havens (millerhavens.com). The Boston-based artist has done a number of brilliant commissioned portraits, including one that the Smithsonian Institute is trying to purchase."
Peter Gammons
ESPN
September 2000

Women's Best Friends

"I found one painting, # 6, in particular that I consider to be absolutely stunning. Even when I analyze it in the broadest and most formal "art terms" that I know, it holds up beautifully. I've become quite prejudiced. I think it's more enchanting than most contemporary work that I've looked at recently. I see it as a figurative painting with different psychological interpretations while, at the same time, I can read it as an interesting abstract piece."
Fay Chandler
Artist
Founder The Art Connection, Boston

"I cannot believe how wonderfully you captured the "poodle hiself" as well as our close relationship. The Series as a whole is incredibly touching and speaks loudly about a kind of friendship that is nearly impossible to describe. "
Claudia Logan
Author and Model For This Series