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to Klair's Works of Art
About
Klair Miller
EXHIBITIONS
- Since
- 2005
- 2007
- 2006
- Artistokrat.com -
Design for On-line Exhibit of Paintings, Prints & Drawings,
World Wide Web
- 2005
- Landscapes & Escapes -
Paintings, Prints & Drawings by Klair & William
Miller, Café Ole, Philadelphia, PA
- 2002
- 2001
- Figuration
- Invitational Exhibition, Cheltenham Center for the
Arts, Cheltenham, PA
- Meaning
in the Mundane -
Juried Alumnae Exhibition, Moore College of Art & Design,
Philadelphia, PA
- Drawing
Nature In Venezuela -
Exhibition, Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia,
PA
- 2000
- A
Show Of Hands -
Goldie Paley Gallery, Moore College of Art & Design,
Philadelphia, PA
- 1997
- Kidopolus
- Anna B. Pratt Elementary School, Permanent Sculptural
Installation, Collaboration with Artist In Residence
and Art Students, Philadelphia, PA
- 1996
- Where
Are We Going? - Young Artists At The Philadelphia Museum
of Art, Collaboration with Students, Philadelphia,
PA
- 1995
- Murals
Reflection Prevention - Collaboration with Students,
- Capitol
Hill Rotunda, Washington, D.C.
- Free
Library of Philadelphia, West Oak Lane
Branch, Philadelphia, PA
- Einstein
Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA
- Super
Saturday, West Oak Lane, Philadelphia,
PA
- 1993
- Philadelphia
Murals Project - Collaboration with Students
- Moore
College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA
- Federal
Reserve Bank, Philadelphia, PA
- Prints
in Progress, Philadelphia, PA
- Exceptional
Painters II - Collaboration with Students, Moore College
of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA
- 1992
- Exceptional
Painters - Collaboration with Students, Moore College
of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA
- Read
My Clay, Collaboration with Students, Philadelphia
Free Library, Main Branch
- Kids
Keep Philadelphia Clean, Collaboration with Students,
Throughout Philadelphia on SEPTA Car Cards
- 1991
- Cultural
Diversity - Museum of the Philadelphia Civic Center,
Philadelphia PA
- 1990
- Artist/Teacher
Teacher/Artist - Levy Gallery for the Arts in Philadelphia,
Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA
- 25x25
Folio # 2 - The Print Club, Philadelphia, PA
- Young
Artists Workshop At The Head House Craft Fair, Philadelphia,
PA
- 1989
- Centennial
Art - Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
- 1988
- Timepieces & Moments
- Solo Exhibition, Elkins Gallery, Tyler School of Art,
Elkins Park, PA
- Over & Under
The Water, Ceramic Tile Mural, Anna B. Pratt Elementary
School, Philadelphia, PA
- 1987
- Objets
Dards - Levy Gallery for the Arts in Philadelphia,
Philadelphia, PA
- Transparent
Thought - Alternative Space Group Exhibition, Philadelphia,
PA
- 1987
to 2000
- Young
Artists, Exhibitions by the Students of the School
District of Philadelphia, Museum Of The Civic Center & The
Board Of Education Administration Building
Klair Miller - Grants & Awards
Klair
Miller - Education & Teaching Experience
Klair
Miller - Services
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Back
to William's Works of Art
About
William J. Miller
William J. Miller II is a self taught* artist who has experimented with many
media including metal, glass, paint, all manner of drawing materials, as
well as a variety of mixed media. William considers the creative use of
anything available found here on earth, and does not consider convention
as limits on his many different creative uses.
Though there are still slides of some of William's work from the past, many
more pieces have been lost, leaving no documentation.
William's main interest lies in painting with oil. He follows his father and
grandfather, who were both artists. William Sr., his father, in addition
to being a painter was a world class and award winning wood carver recognized
by Ducks Unlimited* for his lifelike, meticulous and balanced decoys. William
Sr. also carved song birds and gun stocks. Charles Miller, William's grandfather,
painted, worked in gold leaf, and wrote poetry. Both used fly tying and
taxidermy for their artistic endeavors. William was surrounded by their
influences as a child. As he has always said, it is something he must do,
[make art] and has been driven to do just that since childhood.
William has been in many shows in Pennsylvania, and even one in New Jersey,
but has never really pursued art as a serious career choice. He has tried
to keep his ideas free from the influences of other artists and artistic
concepts. His fear has always been their/others' subliminally burnt imagery
would somehow manifest itself in his own art. He prefers to not study others'
ideas, techniques of process, and art. Doing and finding his own ideas
and technical ways through experimentation have been his teacher, in an
attempt to keep his studies as pure to his own original art development
and process as possible. William says it is nearly impossible in today's
world, where we are bombarded by endless works of art from other sources. "It's
not that I don't enjoy other peoples' art, or their work, it's just that
I don't want to use them to help my thoughts and ideas out, because I am
very creatively self contained as a whole"
" I love Salvador Dali, Monet, Van Gogh, and many of the great modern day
artists' works and ideas. Innovative performing artists like Blue Man Group and
others are unbelievable productions. They are all lovely, exciting...... actually
I love it all, including the music of many. It is so exciting to see and hear
these type of media. Shivers......... is a term that comes to mind"
William studied jewelry for one semester under Al Anderson at Penn State, where
he learned many precious and exotic metal skills, and techniques, including
cast silver and gold processes, centrifugal casting, and other skills necessary
to create fine jewelry. This lead him into unusual knife making, and other
metal projects. He included metal components in some pieces created in
glass construction later when he studied for a year under Bonnie Biggs
at Tyler School of Art. Bonnie, a world renowned artist whose work is in
the collection of the Corning Museum of Art, taught him skills of glass
construction, slump fusion, slumped glass, cast glass, etching, polishing,
sand blasting techniques. It was at Tyler that William met his wife Klair.
He and Klair have collaborated on many pieces of art since.
William is from the Central Pennsylvania, Lock Haven area, and still owns a
house back there in the big hemlocks near Haneyville. The influence of this
area can be found in many of his works.
William maintains Accrue Welding, a welding company which specializes
in Ski Area Maintenance. He has consciously chosen work
that presents risks many do
not encounter which keeps him at a high level of attentiveness. At age fourty-seven
he is looking at art as something to work on now, as he mellows with
age.
He served as a guide on the Lehigh River for five years. He was a dirt bike
rider then a trials bike rider for years when he was younger. He also enjoyed
dual sport riding. An accident in August 2003 has imposed serious limits
on his true outdoor loves. He was a logger and a heavy equipment operator.
He has even installed lifts in the rain forest in the Lesser Antilles in
the island nation of Dominica. All this he has done for fun and excitement,
and profit, which was the driving force behind whatever he did, including
working in three shipyards. Not all experiences were always fun, but all
were very eventful. Whatever could be said about Billy, you can never say
he didn't experiment with adventure. Carpe diem is and has been his mantra
for years.
Billy's support of other unknown artists like himself is evident and can be
found at Bill and Klair's website, www.ARTistoKrat.com. The site, created
by Klair, is a developing work in progress.
Bill's support for unknown artists was proven as far back as 1978 when
he put together an exhibition for the Women's Center of Lock Haven for
Mothers Day.
He gathered his friends from the area to collectively show there for their
profit, "something I still to this day don't know if it actually help
them or not, because I moved to Vermont before the show was finished."
Bill is turning his attention to the arts again, and says it is time to stop
playing around with extremes, and express his experiences through art again
in a more steady flow of work, which has been put on hold long enough.
Bill is poised to make himself known. Regardless of whether or not the
art world wants to pay attention, it will make him happy to know he has
made someone somewhere think, feel, know, or just plan happy to see his
art before their eyes. That is as it always has been since the first day
he ever even picked up a crayon......... which he still uses to this day.
" I love the colors of everything around me, this world is a very beautiful
place to be. Please let's not for one second look past that statement as anything
more than child like imagery so as to not see the ugliness that always does surround
us."
So...that said:
Be happy while you're living,
For you're a long time dead.
- Scottish Proverb
1. self taught - beyond secondary public education with the exception of isolated
short term coursework in jewelry at Penn State and glass at Tyler School
of Art
2. Lock
Haven Express, January 2007 obituary |
