Happy As is

by Jack Miller on April 14, 2015 :: 0 comments

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Jack Miller was accidentally born in Rochester, New York where the weather is often wrong, leaving time for improving oneself indoors. Fated to love learning, and coming from a family of physicians and intensely creative persons, he first earned a BS in math with an Honors Thesis exploring a fondness for the varieties of mathematical infinity. An MD from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and an MFA from California College of the Arts followed, with the result that he lives in San Francisco, makes paintings, is the art editor for VerdadMagazine.Org, writes prose, sings baritone and is on the literary committee of the Magic Theatre, a company chartered to champion new plays. The book he ought to write is Learning How to Learn: Steps to an Ecology of Joy. But for now, in the way of East Coasters who have fallen west, he expects to rationalize and commercialize his artistic pursuits tomorrow.

Artist's Statement: I challenged myself to a new series of artworks built not on the usual virgin page or canvas, but on the ruins of failed prints started—and abandoned—by a beloved printmaker, Sarah Jelley.

A full time painter, I typically choose a new project in order to force new learning, new mastery over a 1-3 year period. In this case I asked, “What was this stillborn print trying to become?” and resurrected each with various media until it was beautiful as light, color, shapes, forms, edges. Then like a dog making itself at home while visiting your place, I cartooned a world into each abstraction. It is done when a title comes to mind.

But these emotionally inflected titles (more often than the images) provoke me to write a short stories, especially when the studio is too cold for paint to flow. Happy As Is was an early example. A group of these is gathering into book form.

Find Jack on the web:
JackMillerArtist.com