NTID Dyer Arts at RIT Hosts Betty Miller Retrospective

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Bettigee The Deaf Picnic, 1994, Betty G. Miller

In 1971, Betty G. Miller began expressing her deaf experiences through her paintings and drawings—causing that “ah-ha” moment in hearing viewers who began to comprehend that deafness isn’t about the lack of the physical sense of sound, but about communication and connection with other people.

The Dyer Arts Center at Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf will host the Betty Miller—Retrospective, featuring 45 pieces of artwork, including 10 paintings by Miller’s father, Ralph R. Miller (who was also deaf). The show runs through Nov. 12.

Miller’s paintings, especially her De’VIA art, (an acronym for Deaf View/Image Art), was the inspiration for deaf visual artists to create work based on their deaf experiences and perceptions. It uses formal art elements with the intention of expressing innate cultural or physical deaf experience.

NTID Dyer Arts Center, located on the RIT campus in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Building, is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday; 1 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday. For gallery information call (585) 475-6855 or e-mail Robert Baker at rbaker@ntid.rit.edu.