We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rae Miller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Rae , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
Abstract Junction is a creative studio ran by myself, Rae Miller and my partner Gabe Santos. Though the joint venture didn’t start until the end of 2020, the creative encouragement was there from the beginning of our relationship in 2018. I had been cultivating my personal art practice and Gabe also came from a creative background. We both were able to to emphasize that spark in one another. It is central to our partnership as well as how we approach other creative partnerships. This also ties into the name Abstract Junction “apart from concrete realities, where things converge.” Each partnership looks unique and that has to be honored, this means that the outcomes of collaboration fit those needs rather than a pre-scripted formula. The professional motivation has been there as we are motivated by cultivating strength in creative community.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Abstract Junction: www.abstractjunction.com IG: @abstractjunction Is a relationship driven creative studio focused on artist made offerings rooted in thoughtful consumption, growth and expanding our creative potential.
Rae Miller www.raemiller.art IG: @raemillerarts
Inspired by taking time for self through creative practice, After starting a 100 day dedication to meditation and drawing practice in 2018, Rae found her art growing in unimaginable ways. Over the years drawing expanded into hand stitching, screen printing and clever upcycling.
Since finding strength in her personal practice, she has been able to grow works through collaborations with others. Along with a creative background, Rae brings to Abstract Junction a decade of work in systems change with social impact organizations. Her systems thinking allows her to dream big, while carefully tending to the little threads that make up the larger picture.
Gabe Santos IG @atc_frqncy
Gabe Santos leads with his heart, approaching his work with curiosity and compassion. As both life partners and chosen family, Gabe complements Rae in growing Abstract Junction.
Co-collaboration, curating spaces and crafting unique designs are central to the partnership. Along with creative and design contributions, “Above the Clouds” is the mindset of Abstract Junction. Gabe speaks to the Abstract Junction ethos, inspiring others to embrace personal evolution.
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Again, speaking to the name of Abstract Junction, what we do as a studio is constantly evolving. We are often thrifting to find garments to upcycle, while building relationships with potential product partners, and occasionally throwing events when there are opportunities to highlight partnerships, community and cities we have relationships with. Our main offerings are ready to purchase original goods including apparel, patches, prints and other items. We’ve also expanded an arm of our business to offer one of a kind embroidery or chain-stitching by Rae. All of our work is inspired by the desire to generate opportunities or the feeling of creative empowerment.
Our big dreams include a space where we can build out additional workshops and events, but for now you can see us popping up at existing businesses, events, and online through our social media.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Since joining forces in 2018 and launching Abstract Junction in 2020 we have lived in 6 different places together. A combination of challenging housing situations, pandemic, and an increasingly expensive rental market have meant needing to relocate more than we liked. We just moved to Albuquerque at the end of 2022, but before that we had been living in Oakland. Gabe was there for 12 years and I was there for 7. We also had a brief stint (6 months) in the Santa Fe, NM area in 2019. This whole time the vision, dream and growth has remained front and center. We have not grown fast or necessarily consistently, but partnership and community support has helped us stay motivated and also feeds our motivation to put that energy back into the world.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
I, Rae, have a background in Urban Planning. I never worked a traditional planning job, but it was my undergraduate degree and that lens has remained with me in all of my work moving forward, nonprofit, arts and otherwise. It was emphasize in our schooling and now re-emphasized by our current conditions, our physical world needs to support the vision we have for ourselves. American cities have handed over their development to the highest bidder which means that corporate interests have dominated decision-making neglecting to foster strength in arts and culture which are often the main driver, identity, and unique look into community. Artists are rarely wealthy, which means like most other poor and lower middle class folks, it has become increasingly difficult to get footing in our cities. Artists need space, they need financial support and they need to be valued by community. This is probably a topic I could talk about at length, but I’ll leave it there for now.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.abstractjunction.com
- Instagram: abstractjunction
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AbstractJunctionCollective
- Other: Rae www.raemiller.art @raemillerarts Gabe @atc_frqncy
Image Credits
The only photo not taken by @abstractjunction is the one with the two women posing which is by @melainaberbergin www.melainabergin.com