Mary Jane Miller joins the Collection listings in this month devoted to Mary with a fascinating tale to tell of her sacred art pilgrimage. Born in New York, she made her way to Mexico on a whim to study art and settled in the Spanish Colonial jewel box city of San Miguel de Allende, where she has spent the last three decades mastering the ancient art of Byzantine icon-making. Miller approaches these tempera works in the time-honored way using ground-stone pigments and egg yolk in full awareness she is creating material images of the immaterial. Miller finds a special place for women in her icons to honor long-neglected heroes of the faith whose gender excluded them from sacred imagery, reshaping the viewer's perceptions of the Virgin Mary with unusual themes and variations like her depiction of the Mother of Christ (left) in communion with a hummingbird, revered in pre-Columbian cultures as a messenger from the spirit world. As Miller sums up her approach to art-making: "I am a rebellious explorer." (John Kohan)