Adia Millett

Photo: Shaun Roberts

American, b. 1975

Lives and works in Oakland, CA

Adia Millett’s work investigates the fragile interconnectivity among all living things, weaving threads of African American experiences with broader ideas of identity and collective history. Inspired by Afrofuturism, emotional resiliency, and the preservation of our land, her multi-disciplinary practice includes painting, quilting, stained glass, collage, video, sculpture, and installation.

Images, ideas and materials are deconstructed and reassembled to shed light on the parallels between the creative process and the nature of personal identity. In Millett’s paintings, abstracted, geometric shapes imply movement: colorful forms expand and collapse freely among backgrounds that hint of landscapes and man-made structures.

Millett received her BFA from the University of California, Berkeley, and MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, and is an alumnus of the prestigious Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program. She has completed residencies at the Studio Museum of Harlem (2002); Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA (2007); School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s ThreeWalls Residency (2010); Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL (2015); and the Hambidge Center, Rabun Gap, GA (2018). In 2021, Millett was awarded the Anonymous Was A Woman Award.

Recent solo exhibitions include Wisdom Keepers at ICA San José, CA (2023); A Force of Nature at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa, CA (2022); The Privilege to Breathe at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, CA (2019); Breaking Patterns at The California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2019). In addition to Freestyle, The Studio Museum in Harlem’s groundbreaking 2001 exhibition, Millett’s work has been included in group shows at the Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK; Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, MI; MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA; MoMA PS1, New York, NY; Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA; New Museum, New York, NY; Oakland Museum of California, CA; and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL, among other prestigious institutions.

Artist CV (PDF)
ARTIST DIGEST | ADIA MILLETT

Discover the work of Adia Millett in Haines Gallery's Artist Digest, a carefully curated mix of content that invites you to explore his practice in depth.

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Works
- Adia Millett
  Gravity, 2022
  Acrylic on wood panel
  36 x 48 inches
  
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- Adia Millett
  Falling in Love with Your Imperfections (Revised), 2020-2022
  Acrylic on wood panel
  48 x 48 inches
  
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- Adia Millett
  Trust, 2024
  Acrylic on wood
  48 x 48 inches
  
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- Adia Millett
  Empathy (portal), 2023-2024
  Acrylic on wood
  36 x 36 inches
  
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- Adia Millett
  What I see when I close my eyes., 2024
  Glass, grout on wood panel
  36 x 36 inches
  
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- Adia Millett
  East Portrait (Birth), 2023
  Acrylic on paper
  32.75 x 24.75 inches, framed
  
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- Adia Millett
  Hues of the New Moon 4, 2022
  Hand-painted lino print on folio vellum paper
  Print: 24 x 18 inches
  Paper: 30 x 22 inches
  
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- Adia Millett
  Hues of the New Moon 11, 2022
  Hand-painted lino print on folio vellum paper
  Print: 24 x 18 inches
  Paper: 30 x 22 inches
  
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Exhibitions
- Exhibitions
  Adia Millett: Reflections on Black
  January 16 - March 9, 2024
  Haines Gallery is proud to present Reflections on Black , our first solo exhibition with Oakland-based multidisciplinary artist Adia Millett . Blackness and the subtleties of moonlight inform Millett’s palette...
News
Press
Sarah Hotchkiss, "SFMOMA Announces 16 Finalists for the 2026 SECA Art Award," KQED, Janaury 27, 2026

Mary Corbin, "From ball courts to Chase Center, Adia Millett captures the visual jazz of interconnectedness," 48hills, October 30, 2025

"Completed Project Announcement: celebrating the creative energy of California," Artsource Consulting, October 10, 2024

Eric Brooks, "Interactive Art Helps Heal Patients at New Bayfront Medical Building," UCSF.edu, September 16, 2024

Janis Hashe, "Kala's Half-Century Under the Sky," East Bay Express, May 28, 2024

Laura López González, "Local Artist Adia Millett Selected for Benioff Oakland Facade Art," UCSF.edu , March 18, 2024

David M. Roth, “Adia Millett: A Warrior for Beauty and Black Culture,” SquareCylinder.com, October 27, 2023

Hilarie M. Sheets, “A Portrait Miniature Was Muse to Mickalene Thomas,” The New York Times, September 9, 2023

Emily Wilson, “Contemporary Multi-Media Artist Adia Millett,” Art is Awesome with Emily Wilson, October 10, 2023

“Adia Millett at the California African American Museum, Los Angeles,” ARTnews, May 22, 2019

Jessica Gelt, "Artist Adia Millett on a new generation's quest to pick apart their identities," Los Angeles Times, March 27, 2019

Eli Zeger, "Broken Homes: Adia Millett at the California African American Museum," Art in America, March 25, 2019

Rachel Howard, "Diverse voices from a changing community in 'Who is Oakland?'," SFGATE, April 8, 2015

Angela Hill, "Oakland museum exhibit asks, 'Who Is Oakland?'," The Mercury News, April 8, 2015