We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joseph A. Miller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Joseph A., thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I learned to draw and paint as a young child the moment I was given pudding for desert. Later, (when I was about five years old) I found a large paintbrush and some red paint in the basement. I came up with the idea to re-paint the exterior of my cedar shingle house. Having started a larger project than I had the attention span to finish, and witnessing the extreme disapproval of my parents, I had my first set-back. However, despite this naughty start, Santa Clause gave me a bunch of great art supplies that year! I quickly graduated from the box of twelve to the box of sixty four Crayola crayons and later, when my third grade Art teacher introduced me to paint-by-numbers, I was hooked. My learning process began with early exposure to the thrill of mark making and color, the excitement of receiving art supplies for birthdays and holidays from my parents and grandparents, and from developing a genuine curiosity about materials. I don’t believe I could have learned any faster than I did. People sometimes ask me when I started drawing and painting. The truth is, I just never stopped.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am an Associate Professor of Art at S.U.N.Y. Buffalo State, where I have taught drawing and painting since 1997. I earned a B.F.A. degree from Kutztown University, Pennsylvania in 1990 and an M.F.A. degree in painting and drawing from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1993. Before being offered the teaching position at Buffalo State, I worked at The Philadelphia Museum of Art in both the security and art conservation departments.

My work is in numerous public and private collections, and has been shown internationally in Finland, China, Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as across the United States, from Berkeley, California to Cambridge, Massachusetts. My work has been exhibited at the Arnot Art Museum, the Castellani Art Museum and the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in New York, the Allentown Art Museum, the Woodmere Art Museum, the Erie Art Museum in Pennsylvania, and the Springville Museum of Art in Utah. I have earned numerous awards, including a First Place Award in A.D. Gallery’s Art in Times of Anxiety National Exhibition, at Pembroke, NC, a Purchase Award and a People’s Choice Award at the Royal Nebeker Gallery, in Clatsop Community College’s, Au Naturel: The Nude in The 21st Century International Exhibition, in Astoria Oregon, a First Place Award in Manifest Creative Research Gallery’s International Drawing Annual V, in Cincinnati Ohio, a Best in Show Award in the National Drawing and Painting Exhibition at the Lore Degenstein Gallery at Susquehanna University, Pennsylvania, and two Purchase Awards from Wright State University Art Galleries in Dayton, Ohio. I have given lectures about my work at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Daemen College, New York, Southern Utah University, The University of Utah, Utah State University and at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in Buffalo, New York. I am represented by Art Dialogue Gallery in Buffalo, NY, and West End Gallery in Corning, NY.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

After receiving my Masters of Fine Arts in graduate school, when I worked as a security guard at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, I carried a small sketchbook that fit into the pocket of my navy-blue polyester uniform jacket. And whenever I could I would pull that little sketchbook out with my yellow HB pencil and sketch detailed drawings of paintings and sculpture in the collection. News spread through the museum about my sketchbook and curious staff members would ask to see my work. I ended up selling many of those little drawings!

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Yes. I am driven by curiosity about what my finished drawing or painting will look like.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.flickr.com/photos/134913715@N03/albums/72157713915296916/
• Other: https://artdesign.buffalostate.edu/directory/joseph-miller

Image Credits

Photo of, “Joe in his Studio painting Janey” by Christine Carr Miller, artist’s wife