ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
February 19, 1980 marks the birth of Michael Paul Miller. From then to the end of high school the artist lived in the small isolated town of Markesan, WI. Primarily an agricultural based community with a population of 1396, Markesan's rural scenery provided Michael with visual references that still inspire him to this day.
His father and mother moved to the area with the hope of raising their children in a type of community that only a small town may provide. While growing up in the small town, Michael relied greatly on his imagination as a source of entertainment. This led to his interest in creating art. Much of what was considered art while in the community was found in either taxidermy or a Ducks Unlimited print depicting wildlife. However, the young artist could still appreciate the tranquility and beauty found in many of the landscape scenes depicted in these prints, for they resembled the fields and woodlands that he grew up with.
Behind the former Miller family residence is a woods with a small creek winding through it. Now closed and abandoned, the Mackford Elementary School he attended is located in a prairie. Farm fields surround the high school, his father’s dental office, and the whole town. These fields and woodlands are home to many of Michael’s past memories of work, play, friendship, and beauty. He had even found love in the fields, for his wife, Pamela lived on a farm surrounded by fields as far as the eye can see. Though he found friends, love, and sense of self in the fields, they also became a physical barrier to the whole world that lay beyond them so he decided that after high school he would leave.
During his freshman year of high school the young artist worked with oil paints for the first time and immediately responded to the medium’s inherent qualities. In 1997 and 1998, his junior and senior high school years, his art was selected to exhibit in the annual High School Art Exhibition at the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh. He visited the campus both times and knew that his purpose in life was to be an artist, and UWO was where he would study to be one. In 1998, he was honored with the High School Artist of the Year Award, which reaffirmed his desire and purpose.
In the fall of 1998, he enrolled in the UWO painting program and studied under three master painters. Each one had a different stylistic approach to painting. Jeff Lipschutz, the desert painter, studied at San Francisco State University and his art expresses his past and current border issues with the raw physical nature of paint. Ron Weaver, the colorist, studied at Yale University and uses intense saturated color in his paintings to beautify the positive experiences of life. Li Hu, the academic painter, was traditionally trained in Shanghai and his powerful large sized figure and landscape paintings reveal the struggles of mid 20th century Chinese culture. Michael gained an extensive amount of visual and cultural knowledge from all three professors, and continues to appreciate their friendship.
At UWO, Michael’s art was selected for two annual honors exhibitions, won the Best of 2-D Award, received the Chancellor's Merit Award, and placed second in the category of 2-D. He also was privileged to display work in shows with his professors on several occasions. In 2003, the artist graduated and earned a B.F.A. in Painting and Graphic Communications. After graduation, Michael continued to show paintings in solo and group shows in Oshkosh.
With a passion to research painting even further, Michael applied to graduate schools and was accepted by his first choice, UW Madison. According to Michael, UW Madison held up to its reputation as being one of the top ranked research universities. He studied under professors Derrick Buisch, T.L. Solien, Gelsy Verna, Jack Damer, David Becker, and Richard Long, and was selected by Derrick Buisch as a Project Assistant for paint research during the 2006 -2007 academic year. He was nominated by the Art Department as UW Madison’s 2006, 2-D candidate for the Deadalus Foundation’s national $20,000 grant. He also received a $3000 Edith L. Gilbertson Scholarship for advancing the field of art.
On three occasions Michael’s Alma Mater UWO held juried exhibitions in their newest art gallery for the UW Madison graduate students. His work was selected and shown in all three exhibitions. In 2007, he was also selected from the M.F.A. students by The Wisconsin Union Directorate Art Committee to be the one student for the year to receive a solo exhibition at their premier gallery, “The Porter Butts Gallery.”
Post Graduation, Michael had his first experience exhibiting his work in the Chelsea gallery district of New York, NY at the Denise Bibro Fine Art Gallery. He had selected solo exhibitions at the Museum of Wisconsin Art, and at the University of Northern Iowa. During the 2007 - 2008, academic year he also taught a variety of art classes as an adjunct lecturer at UW-Madison, Carroll College, Carthage College, and Herzing College.
Currently, the artist resides with Pamela on the upper Northwest Olympic Peninsula in the border city of Port Angeles, WA, where he accepted a tenure-track art faculty position at Peninsula College. His art has already had great exposure in the Northwest with selected solo exhibitions at Gallery 070 on Vashon Island, the Phinney Center Gallery of Seattle, and the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, as well as other group exhibitions at Pacini Lubel Gallery in Seattle, WA, Coos Art Museum in Coos Bay, OR, and the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center. His work is represented by Pacini Lubel Gallery in Seattle, and by Denise Bibro Fine Art in New York City.
Michael continues to research and develop paintings under the rubric, “The Salvaged”, as he believes that he has only scraped the surface of what could be a life-long study.
