Cock of the Woods: Color Version I, 2017 , Screen print on paper, cut and assembled

I've made paper birds for decades and keep at it for a wide range of reasons. The method challenges me, it frustrates me, and I learn so much by pushing through. My every attempt at making three dimensional paper figures is awkward in one way or another but this doesn't overly discourage me. It is in fact this quality that also makes them interesting.

Art has many qualities and amongst them is a sort of magic. Unlike slight of hand magic it is almost always possible for the audience to be impressed even while they can see how the trick is done. Somehow art is capable of inspiring an unusual coexistent awareness that allows a viewer to see and feel something through an object that doesn't fully pretend to be the idea it references. There can be a sort of belief and suspension of belief experienced simultaneously that I find fascinating.

With the birds, the light and fragile nature of these sculptures echo qualities in birds themselves and I'm sure this is part of what appeals to me in making them

 

Current Shows

My painting Silent Vigil is included in the 30th Annual Northern National Art Competition (NNAC)

Nicolet College Art Gallery
Northwoods Center
Rhinelander, WI

September 18 – October 20, 2017

M - F: 8 am - 4 pm, Closed Weekends and Holidays

Representation:

Abel Contemporary; River Arts on Water

 

Gray Jay Graphics is a name I use to help you find me in the crowd but I really do business as John Miller. My personal name is pretty commonplace so I can be hard to find without another way to identify me. I work in many different styles and with many different mediums creating fine art as well as graphic designs explaining ideas. All content © John Miller unless otherwise noted.