{"id":18,"date":"2014-06-09T16:45:22","date_gmt":"2014-06-09T16:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.195.124.224\/~steveoo8\/newsite\/?page_id=18"},"modified":"2025-03-03T12:00:36","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T17:00:36","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stevenraymiller.com\/newsite\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creative Optimist<\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Durham artist Steven Ray Miller paints art, with heart<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Andrea Billups<\/p>\n

Many in the Duke community have seen Steven Ray Miller\u2019s art, even if they don\u2019t know it was his.<\/p>\n

Your room key at the Washington Duke Inn? Yep, that\u2019s his work. Prints of Duke Chapel and the student hoops campout known as Krzyzewskiville<\/strong>, many of which hang on the walls of well-appointed houses around Durham? Those are his, too.<\/p>\n

And what about those rainbow-hued bumper stickers and car magnets with an outline of the state that read: \u201cY\u2019all Means EVERYONE\u201d. \u00a0Miller, a gentle and thoughtful painter fond of adding secret hearts into his works, created that design as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe there is no \u2018them,\u2019\u201d he says from his art-filled home in a cozy Durham enclave. \u201cIt\u2019s ALL us,\u201d he says, noting that he is a big fan of unity, of a peaceful getting-along.<\/p>\n

Miller, 72, graduated from Duke in 1973 with degrees in studio art and psychology. Both his father and his uncle attended the university and when the White Plains, New York native began his college search, Duke just felt right.<\/p>\n

He left high school knowing he was good in math and science, but those majors were not where he landed. He took art classes at Duke and felt inspired, if not led, to create. That was the beginning of an arts career that has spanned five decades and has seen him paint 600 of mainly gouache watercolor works that have endeared him to the community where he is the subject of three short films and where he helmed this month (eds note: Dec. 13, 2024) \u00a0a 40-piece gallery showing alongside promoting his new book \u201cAn ARTobiography.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my brothers said I was a glass-is-three-quarters-full kind of guy,\u201d Miller shares, laughing at the characterization of his light-hearted disposition. Of his art, he says \u201cyou don\u2019t need therapy before or after you look at my paintings,\u201d which are colorful, upbeat and while complex, beautiful in their viewing simplicity.<\/p>\n

An early follower of Ram Dass, the spiritual teacher, yoga guru, psychologist and writer, Miller once manned his own mobile framing business (he now has a framing studio behind his home). He said that his idea to place hearts inside his paintings began as a way to impress a long-ago girlfriend. He continued the placements long after she was gone (and now encourages people to guesstimate just how many are in each work).<\/p>\n

\u201cHearts help us to share the feelings of love and hope that connect us all,\u201d says Miller who married at 42 (now amicably divorced) and became a dad to a son two years later.<\/p>\n

Not all of his paintings are inspired by the Blue Devils. His artwork showcases diverse interests: the Statue of Liberty, flowers, a patchwork dog, even scenes from his hometown. They have been made into prints, puzzles, an annual calendar and fun fact: one was once a prize for a winner on \u201cWheel of Fortune.\u201d In the \u201870s, he was known for his \u201cstripe\u201d paintings, and through the \u201880s and \u201890s a variety of mostly landscapes and architecture. He also created a series of paintings on glass, which have not been seen as widely as some of his other genres, including his popular Duke landmarks including Duke Gardens.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do a fair number of commission paintings. Those are often architecture, house portraits and stuff like that. He adds: \u201cI’m not good at painting faces, clouds, blendy sunsets or animals. I’m real good at people from behind in motion but facial I just don’t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As someone who is self-employed, Miller is unabashed in marketing his work. If an artist\u2019s work is solitary, Miller says he is just as much a person who is social and determined to showcase what he does in the best light. His work process has been changed by technology and the easy way the world, online, can now put eyes on his paintings \u2013 which is a good thing and a tough thing for those seeking to earn a living in that space, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s never been easier to share your work with the world, with everybody. It can go around the world 10 times and not change one pixel and I didn’t make a penny,\u201d Miller observes. \u201cIt’s never been harder to generate revenue and particularly our children, you know, they know information is free and that’s where I am grateful that I have old-fashioned tangible stuff to sell.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cI’ve always felt that there was a big market for my work.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/dukemag.duke.edu\/stories\/creative-optimist<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-18","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAbout - Steven Ray Miller<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Painting for about 40 years, Steven Ray Miller specializes in vibrant, realistic watercolors and limited edition prints.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/stevenraymiller.com\/newsite\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About - 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