Aaron Miller– Artist Statement

My artwork deals with personal history, reflecting on a working class background and on the controversial nature of the mining industry. My prints, paintings, and installations examine class-consciousness through the lens of my own class hybridity. Raised in a small western mining town, I am now a fine artist and an academic, pursuits that are historically white-collar and intellectual. Straddling this awkward gulf between laborer and academic forms the basis of my
work. The tools for this examination are icons of materialism and utility, representing the two halves of this struggle, trappings of both blue and white-collar. Strange objects, mixtures of industrial machinery and elegant antiques, often populate my work.

As much of my life has been spent as a blue-collar worker, industrial images dominate my aesthetic vocabulary. My work recalls the sights, sounds, and smells of industry through the use of materials such as asphalt and tar, allied with both heavy textures and subtle value shifts. I am interested in the history of use as recorded on the surfaces of machinery; the scratches, dents and stains of mining equipment are described in the layering and scarring of my picture surfaces.

Resume

Education

• MFA: Printmaking, University of Arizona 2009
• BS: Graphic Design, University of Wyoming 2005

Exhibitions

Solo

• 2008 Slovensko, Art One Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
• 2008 New Paintings, Art One Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ

Group

• 2009 Los Angeles Printmaking Society 20th National Exhibition, LA Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, Juror: Peter Frank
• 2009 On a Role, Union of Bulgarian Artists, Sofia Bulgaria
• 2009 Landscape and Industry Juried Exhibition, Goggle Works Center for the Arts, Reading, PA
• 2009 36th National Photo Exhibition, Larson Gallery, Yakima, WA, Juror: Ellen Garvens
• 2009 An Iconography of Class, MFA Thesis Show, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
• 2009 Painted Images, Union Gallery, Cochise College, Cochise, AZ
• 2008 Trickle Down Effect, Lessedra Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
• 2008 Questionnaires, City Art Gallery, Balchik, Bulgaria
• 2007 Lessedra World Art Print Annual (Mini Print), Lessedra Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
• 2007 Weather, Rocky Neck Artist Colony, Bryan Gallery, Gloucester, MA, Juror: Karen Quinn
• 2007 Three, Union Gallery University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2007 Piggyback Show No. 1, The Fremont Gallery, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2007 Deserts, Lakes and Swamps, Printmaking Gallery, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
• 2006 Spicy, Lutefisk, Doublewide, Quarter Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis St. Paul, MN
• 2006 Coded Sequences, Shane House Gallery, Tucson, AZ
• 2006 Print Zero Studios Exchange IV, Traveling Show

  Rainbow Building Gallery, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL,
  Sev Shoon Arts Center, Seattle, WA,
  Basil Howard Gallery, Portland, OR,
  Old Inlet Printmakers, Homer, AK

Academic and Professional Appointments

• 2009 Master Printmaker, Sheila Pitt, Tucson, AZ
• 2009 Instructor of Record, Drawing, Spring Semester, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2009 Assistant Preparator, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
• 2008 Instructor of Record, Drawing, Fall Semester, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2008 Instructor of Record, Color and Design, Summer Semester, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2008 Assistant Preparator, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
• 2007 Instructor of Record, Drawing, Fall Semester, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2007 Instructor of Record, Alternative Printmaking, Summer Semester, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2007 Instructor of Record, Drawing, Spring Semester, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Awards

• 2008 Edward Francis Dunn Scholarship, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2008 Lasting Impressions Printmaking Scholarship, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2008 College of Fine Arts Mini Grant, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2008 Graduate and Professional Student Council Travel Grant, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2008 Medici Scholars Travel Grant, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2008 Graduate Diversity Fellowship, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2008 Graduate Tuition Award, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2008 Graduate Assistant/Associate Tuition Award
  University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2008 Study Abroad/Student Exchange Award, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2007 Lasting Impressions Printmaking Scholarship, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2007 Graduate Tuition Award, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2007 Graduate Assistant/Associate Tuition Award
  University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2006 Graduate Tuition Award, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
• 2006 Purchase Prize, 31st Annual Student Juried Show, UW Art Museum, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY

Visiting Art Residencies

• 2008 Artist in Residence, Process Space Festival: Balchik, Bulgaria
• 2008 Educational Exchange, Academy of Fine Arts: Bratislava, Slovakia