Michael Paul Miller started teaching two-dimensional painting and art history at Peninsula College this fall. Before coming to campus he taught painting, drawing and design at four colleges in Wisconsin. Miller chose Peninsula College because of the surrounding environment and proximity to Seattle.
The kind of art Miller does is representational oil paintings that vary in size from 5 by 7 feet and 8 by 10 inches. He describes them as open-ended narratives leaving viewers without a definite conclusion.
It is not all figurative either.
Miller says he likes to use symbolism to link his viewers to modern, contemporary issues such as the environment or gun control.
One of his paintings shows two oil barrels. Miller said people have related the literal oil shortage to the picture and also a more abstract interpretation of the two barrels symbolizing the Twin Towers of New York. Miller states that even though contemporary issues are suggested in his paintings, they are just that and he does not intend to push any one view onto his viewers.
"Environmental chaos" is a common theme of his work. The chaos fits in with Millers' current art series of his pictures called "salvage," which he said is based on a post-apocalyptic world. This view, he says, may come from remembering as a boy seeing burning fields and houses, which stuck as a powerful image in his mind.
Miller said that painting for him is a love/hate relationship. But mostly, he says, he likes it because he gets to create his own world, his own visual narrative where chaos loom and his characters metaphorically re-establish order.
Like one of Miller's students, Jeremy Mason, said, "Anyone can paint, but if you don't put yourself into the painting it's really not all that good."
Mason said that Millers' style is more realistic, that he paints what is going on in the world. He also mentions that it's exciting to learn the new outlook.
Miller said, "It's much like a Hollywood filmmaker showing his film. It's about seeing something that you've not seen before," saying through this he also creates curiosity.
Miller sets the mode of his classroom by letting a different student each week chooses some back round music. He said "music always goes hand in hand with the art process."
There are a number of other artists that Miller uses for inspiration. They include: Andrew Wyeth, Bo Bartlett, Odd Nerdrum, Anseln Kiefer, Winslow Homer and Rembrandt.
Two of Millers' paintings are on display in the Pirate Union Building and there are more of his paintings on his web address: www.mpmart.net.
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