We Overlap Painting

Earlier life Miller grew up with art and creativity around him. He enjoyed the various mediums and styles he worked with. In high school, Miller took every art class available. From film photography and working in the darkroom to pottery class working to make glazes and making pottery clay, Miller enjoyed the process. Miller also enjoyed Stain glass, printmaking, and drawing classes. Miller is a 2011 Goshen College Alumnus. He studied Interdisciplinary Studies, encompassing Peace and Justice Studies, International Studies, and Art. His Art minor included Drawing, Photography, Acrylic Painting I and II, Oil Painting, and Art History. Art History may have a stereotype of being the most boring class anyone could take; it is just one of those classes you must take. However, with the insight of my art professor and an engaged class, Miller learned how art has engaged and supported artists, communities, and cultures throughout history. Art History provides a viewpoint on how art and culture are composed together and create meaning. After all, the Stone age is referencing art, the certation of figures on stone. Influences One artist Miller continues to enjoy learning about is Pablo Picasso, known as one of the greatest painters in modern history. Picasso led the Cubism art style in the early 20th century, an Avant-guard challenging the stereotypes in the art world at the time. Best known for his work Guernica, Picasso created the enormous 11’x25’ painting as a protest, an anti-war statement against the bombing by Nazis of the Spanish town in 1937. Picasso used Guernica to raise awareness, speaking out against fascism, the military, and systems of death. This led to raising funds for relief efforts from the pain and injustices of the war. Miller's interest in Picasso grew when he visited the Pablo Picasso Musée in Paris in 2019, where he read details about original paintings, drawings, and quick sketches over the artist’s life. Painting Styles - Portraiture – Miller enjoys working with portraiture in realism and post-impressionist style. The composition looks “real” while also enjoying the wide variety of colors from a Van Gogh post-impressionist style. This process is created with brushes that are best to blend colors on the canvas while using mediums that aren’t too thick. This style of influence is seen in the number of self-portraits and paintings of Frida Kahlo and Pablo Picasso that Miller has painted.