Making art has been a part of my entire adult life. After studying Commercial Art in high school, I enrolled in a BFA program at the U of A, later opting to complete an Art Education degree. A gallery of some of my early work highlights the fact it often uses simple graphic designs.
Returning to Canada in 2012, I worked with a web designer to launch my WordPress website highlighting my creative abilities in design, writing, photography, art, music and video production. A major work from this time, Death from A to Z by Adam Lanza, Dec. 14, 2012 (2013), explores the issue of gun control.
Moving to Prince George, I completed a major outdoor installation, The Spirit of Prince George, 2015, (2014) for Timberspan Wood Products. After creating the design for the work in Illustrator, I used a variety of power tools to carve the Douglas fir panels.
Another example my wood-based art is Teach Only Love.
My Happy Face Series emphasizes my spiritual belief in a positive world.
And here’s a short video detailing the creation of my Life Star sculpture using Dollar Store nightlights.
I have also entered a number of art competitions, including one as team leader for a submission to build a Holocaust Memorial in Ottawa and another to create an installation commemorating Prince George’s Centennial (parts 1 & 2).
In August 2021,was included in Observica Prime Magazine’s 13th edition and joined Biafrin, an online platform promoting art, artists and art sales. My biography states:
James Miller was born in Edmonton, Alberta on May 15. According to the “The Secret Language of Birthdays”, May 15 is the Day of the Dreamweaver. Those born on this day “simply have a gift for quietly and unostentatiously touching the hearts of family, friends or colleagues….The materials that May 15 people work with come from everyday life but those born on this day have a remarkable talent for putting those materials through a kind of creative alchemy and weaving a resultant tapestry which touches one’s inner core.”
Unable to avoid his astrological fate, Miller has been making art of one kind or another for his entire adult life. Always interested in the spiritual, Miller has become obsessed with the idea that life is a really, really good thing, despite the sometimes seemingly overwhelming evidence that the opposite is true. The majority of his work on his website, jamesmillercreative.com is dedicated to communicating that message. His introduction to “A Course in Miracles” in 2012 has further confirmed for him that everyone’s “happiness and function are one.”
After teaching mostly art overseas for ten years, Miller returned to Canada in 2012 and moved to Edmonton in 2021, where he currently resides.
I have been active as an artist in Edmonton. I have joined the Alberta Craft Council, attended a number of workshops with organized by the Latitude 53 Gallery and helped paint the gallery’s new location. One of my photographs, Spool on the Water, was selected by the Edmonton Public Library for its show, FLOW, which runs September 10 to November 30, 2023. Most recently that same work was selected for the Exhibizone online show Scenic, 2023 and my still life, Still Life’s Good, for the Gallerium online show, Still Life, 2023.
My music video produced in 2020 features my song, Brand New Song, written and recorded in Victoria in 2005, features much of my art and my wonderful (at least to my ear) voice.
In conclusion, I invite you to explore my work on my website, which I believe portrays me and my work far better than any written chronology. If you need more information, please advise.
James Miller, October, 2023