Please consider me in your search for an Outreach and Programs Assistant for the Mitchell Art Gallery.
My interest in art and connection to MacEwan University, including its namesake, are part and parcel of a life focused on art, art education, communication and creativity.
After completing studies in Commercial Art at Harry Ainlay, I enrolled in the BFA Program at the University of Alberta, eventually graduating with a B.Ed. in Art Education. A gallery of some of my early work highlights the fact it often uses simple graphic designs.
While at university I explored my interest in the written word by serving as Production Editor for U of A students’ union Gateway, which led directly to my joining The University of Calgary as a Communications Officer II after graduation. Alternating as editor of the bi-weekly Gazette, I contributed articles on all aspects of campus life, everything from innovations in mapping to personal profiles. I enjoyed supplying my page design, illustration and photography skills and took a particular interest in promoting campus gallery exhibitions and exhibitors, like Arnaud Maggs. The William Kurelek exhibition was one of the highlights of that period.
While at the U of C, I established my first link with MacEwan, in this case studying Topics in Prairie Canada with Grant, passing the multi-term course with an A-. I also completed courses in Art & Architecture of Canada: 1870 – 1960+ and Communications Research Methods.
After five enjoyable years, I accepted a position as Journalism Instructor at the then Grant MacEwan Community College, where I taught graphic design, mass media, photojournalism, and news laboratory. I was delighted and honored to have one of my photographs added to the college’s permanent collection. On the webpage created for this application, it’s pictured below. I wonder if it can still be found.
After a year of teaching, I accepted the position of Western Editor for Canadian Forest Industries Magazine (based in Vancouver) and wrote on all aspects of the business including harvesting, safety and milling. When my position was made redundant, I moved to Nanaimo, writing for the Business Examiner and serving as a daily reporter for The Nanaimo Daily Free Press. I then joined forest equipment manufacturer T-MAR industries as marketing manager, where my visual abilities were utilized in the production of brochures, advertising, videos and trade show installations. My writing skills were put to use in the production of trade publication articles and launching the company newsletter, The T-MAR Times. I was also Project Manager for the company’s participation in a “live forestry” exhibition in the BC interior.
A downturn in the industry led to ten years of international teaching, mostly art and mathematics, in Libya, Mongolia, Saudi Arabia, Norway, the UAE and Japan. I taught art using the Irish Leaving Certificate, IGCSE and IB PYP, MYP and Diploma Programmes. These are rigorous curricula, especially the IB Diploma, and I worked to ensure my students met requirements while also encouraging them to search for and brighten their inner artistic light. One of my responsibilities was to document my final year student’s work and prepare and ship it for adjudication. I also took my students to art galleries, helped with fund raising bazaars and organized an exhibition of student work in Ulaanbaatar. A work by one of my Norwegian students is shown.
I nourished my own light, as well. Highlights of this period include the production of a teacher narrated, student illustrated, video of my story of an apple’s search for meaning, The Apple of Albert’s Eye, and God is Love, a short film produced with my Emirati students in Al Ain.
Returning to Canada in 2012, I launched my WordPress website, blog and twitter account to display my creative abilities in writing, photography, art, music and video production and to promote my belief in our connectedness with each other and creation. My Happy Face Series and Teach Only Love are two examples which promote my belief in an overarching Love without opposite. I do hope you have time to look at some of my work. I am proficient in MS Office, Illustrator, Photoshop, Word Press and various video editing programs.
After successfully completing the first year of MacEwan’s Hearing Aid Practitioner Program (making me one of a rare few who have worked at Grant MacEwan, studied with Grant MacEwan and studied at Grant MacEwan) I decided to take some time to explore my art, producing several major pieces including a quilt referencing Adam Lanza’s killing his mother, and then a total of 26 students and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School, before taking his own life.
Moving to Prince George, I served in a variety of positions including as a Community Care Aide for the non-profit, Prince George Association for Community Living (AiMHi). Many of my AiMHi clients were of Indigenous ancestry and part of my duties included providing informal counselling and support. After completing the Licensed Property Management Course at UBC’s Sauder School of Business, I served as a Licensed Property Manager. I also worked with fellow volunteers in the Salvation Army’s food recovery program, which helped feed the city’s disadvantaged and provided farmers with surplus food.
While in Prince George, I used the Two Rivers Gallery Maker’s Lab and created a music video, Brand New Song, which musically ask us to look at this world in “a different way” – a more positive way. Another highlight of this period is my commissioned piece, The Spirit of Prince George, 2015.
I returned to Edmonton, the city of my birth, in April 2021. Since then, I’ve been actively employed and artistically active, as well. Due to coinciding job offers, I am currently a full-time Facility Maintenance Worker for the Mustard Seed and a part-time Sales Associate representing Whirlpool, KitchenAid and Maytag products at the South Edmonton Commons Best Buy.
I’m a member of Edmonton’s Interfaith Centre for Education and Action, the Alberta Craft Council and volunteered and participated in workshops for Latitude 53 Gallery. I have also met with artist, Hanny Khoury, (pictured below) on a number of occasions. My recent writing has ambitiously offered a solution to conflict in articles like Rethinking War and tackled prejudice in Assholes – Another Theory.
I believe I am an excellent candidate for this position and suggest we meet to discuss the contribution I could make to MacEwan University in the position of Outreach and Programs Assistant.
Sincerely,
James Miller