Artist-in-Residence Glen Miller Helps Students
"Bring Meaning" to Artistic Process

Additional Links:
A Gallery of Glen Miller's Work
Back to Arts Program

Portrait of the Artist, acrylic on paper, 2002

"There is something magical for me," says artist Glen Miller, who works primarily with painting and drawing, "about a bunch of marks coming together in a unique way to create a meaningful image. I have come to appreciate the significance of each mark, each undefined area, and each color shift, as means for celebrating the complexity of ordinary experience."

The artist's portrait of Red, a fictional character who has
assumed a life of his own in Miller's artwork. Oil on canvas
2002.

During his weeklong residency at the Middle School from March 29 - April 2, Miller shared with the students his painterly technique and writer's sensibility. It is through what he calls "the marking process" that artists give meaning to things. "I have spent most of the past year exploring this idea through fictional characters. Some characters seemed to emerge from drawings with their own stories to tell. Some just wanted to dance. I like to think that my work can reveal something more than the obvious about human experience."

Miller, who is a CCES parent, explains his vision and
drawing technique with a class of eighth-grade students.

Miller has been teaching art since 1979 in Newberry County high schools and at Newberry College. "This is the youngest group I've ever taught," he said, referring to the middle-schoolers. "They are adventurous."

In 2000 the artist began what he refers to as his "working retirement." He started working full time in his studio and preparing for his first solo exhibition. It was a very prolific period; after his years of full-time teaching he was able to let loose with his own artistic vision and produce 50 pieces in the first 18 months following "retirement." He has since had several solo exhibits and has participated in several juried and invitational shows in the Carolinas. Currently, he is preparing for a solo exhibition at the Aiken Center for the Arts in July. (For a look at some of his recent work, click here.)

..
At left, an eighth-grade works on her self-portrait using soft pencil shading. At right, Miller demonstrates for a group of students.

Every year the CCES artist-in-residence program, which is funded by the Arts Guild, brings artists and musicians to each division for weeklong residencies. The resident artists work with classroom teachers Alice Munn and Brent Roberts to bring a new dimension to the students' artistic explorations.

Miller, left, and art teacher Brent Roberts, right, advising
students on their still life drawings.

"Art has always been a problem-solving activity," said Miller, explaining why art training is important in all aspects of learning. "Artists have always had to adjust, discover, and make adjustments."

And through that process, they have always been able to illuminate our experience.