Freedom Speaks Through Us
Katya Miller
In my early twenties, I became entranced with the art and technique of fabricating and casting silver, bronze, and gold. I dove passionately into my profession as a metal smith. I knew it was my life's work. My first teacher inspired me the most, and then my own fascination with metalworking nurtured me as I freed up my creativity. The Berkeley student riots of the ‘70s pulled me into a larger world, offering an intense environment to grow into myself as a jeweler, designer, ritual artist, and community organizer. I began to sell my jewelry at local shows, and museums and shops around the country.
My familiarity with metals and gemstones grew, and form plus style grew out of this bonding. The metals spoke to me in meditations and dreams, shaping my designs and their adaptations from ancient art. My studies in art history introduced me to the early matriarchal cultures, whose earthen Goddess figures embodied a cultural connection between art and spiritual devotion. I began carving Goddess images from my own life's journey as a woman, and saw powerful female imagery everywhere, including on several states Capitol buildings and in central parks. At the time, in California, there was a resurgence of interest in matrilineal societies, and a coming alive in women's art, writing, and teaching. This atmosphere created a renaissance of women’s understanding of history and their role in it.
In 1993, when "Freedom," the statue on the U.S. Capitol Dome, spoke to me in a meditation, it should not have been a surprise. The force of her message was personal, and made me take it seriously. She said, "Katya, I feel so honored to be here on top of the Capitol, but so unseen.” At the time I was already in the process of creating a miniature statue of Lady Freedom for my jewelry line. The original plaster statue by Thomas Crawford that had arrived 135 years earlier from Rome was being taken from the Smithsonian’s basement storage and pieced together. The cast bronze statue atop the Capitol dome in Washington D.C. was being repaired and cleansed, becoming more visible to all. It seemed that I was being asked to do more about the invisibility of this female statue and the spirit she represents.1
I sent a silver pendant of her to Barbara Wolanin, the Curator of the statue, and to First Lady Hilary Clinton to wear at the ceremony lifting the bronze lady back atop the Capitol Dome in October 1993, and received beautiful thank-you notes in return. The buyer at the Capitol Gift Shop bought pendants to sell in the Capitol’s kiosks, and I began to write the story of the Lady of Freedom for a product card with the emblem of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society on the back.
In my early twenties, I became entranced with the art and technique of fabricating and casting silver, bronze, and gold. I dove passionately into my profession as a metal smith. I knew it was my life's work. My first teacher inspired me the most, and then my own fascination with metalworking nurtured me as I freed up my creativity. The Berkeley student riots of the ‘70s pulled me into a larger world, offering an intense environment to grow into myself as a jeweler, designer, ritual artist, and community organizer. I began to sell my jewelry at local shows, and museums and shops around the country.
My familiarity with metals and gemstones grew, and form plus style grew out of this bonding. The metals spoke to me in meditations and dreams, shaping my designs and their adaptations from ancient art. My studies in art history introduced me to the early matriarchal cultures, whose earthen Goddess figures embodied a cultural connection between art and spiritual devotion. I began carving Goddess images from my own life's journey as a woman, and saw powerful female imagery everywhere, including on several states Capitol buildings and in central parks. At the time, in California, there was a resurgence of interest in matrilineal societies, and a coming alive in women's art, writing, and teaching. This atmosphere created a renaissance of women’s understanding of history and their role in it.
In 1993, when "Freedom," the statue on the U.S. Capitol Dome, spoke to me in a meditation, it should not have been a surprise. The force of her message was personal, and made me take it seriously. She said, "Katya, I feel so honored to be here on top of the Capitol, but so unseen.” At the time I was already in the process of creating a miniature statue of Lady Freedom for my jewelry line. The original plaster statue by Thomas Crawford that had arrived 135 years earlier from Rome was being taken from the Smithsonian’s basement storage and pieced together. The cast bronze statue atop the Capitol dome in Washington D.C. was being repaired and cleansed, becoming more visible to all. It seemed that I was being asked to do more about the invisibility of this female statue and the spirit she represents.1
I sent a silver pendant of her to Barbara Wolanin, the Curator of the statue, and to First Lady Hilary Clinton to wear at the ceremony lifting the bronze lady back atop the Capitol Dome in October 1993, and received beautiful thank-you notes in return. The buyer at the Capitol Gift Shop bought pendants to sell in the Capitol’s kiosks, and I began to write the story of the Lady of Freedom for a product card with the emblem of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society on the back.
About the author
Katya Miller is a graduate of the Design Department at the University of California, Berkeley. For 30 years, she has been producing cultural imagery through her symbolic jewelry and independent film. Her jewelry designs sell in museums and catalogues nationwide, as well as on the Internet. The sculpted statue/pendant of Lady Freedomhas sold at the US Capitol Historical Society kiosks and the Senate Gift Shop.
Katya began researching the history of Lady Freedom by consulting with the curator and historians at the Capitol, as well as doing years of historical research. Her article “An Appreciation of Thomas Crawford’s Statue of Freedom-A Statue Called Pocahontas, America, Liberty, and Freedom” was published in The Capitol Dome magazine published by the US Historical Society, winter 2007. She is currently writing a book on Lady Freedom and hoping to make it into a documentary film.
email: katya@ladyfreedom.net, jewelry: www.culturalimages.net
For an updated list of works published in TRIVIA, please see this author's contributor page.
Katya began researching the history of Lady Freedom by consulting with the curator and historians at the Capitol, as well as doing years of historical research. Her article “An Appreciation of Thomas Crawford’s Statue of Freedom-A Statue Called Pocahontas, America, Liberty, and Freedom” was published in The Capitol Dome magazine published by the US Historical Society, winter 2007. She is currently writing a book on Lady Freedom and hoping to make it into a documentary film.
email: katya@ladyfreedom.net, jewelry: www.culturalimages.net
For an updated list of works published in TRIVIA, please see this author's contributor page.