The Miller Collection began to take shape in the early 1970s, including a range of ceramic art spanning the last century and originating in multiple cultures. The collection is expansive in including significant works by many of the field’s most celebrated makers, while also showing great depth through extensive holdings of particular artists. A central theme to emerge through the incredible diversity of the collection is the notion of the vessel as an abstract art form and the range of ways artists have engaged its core meanings over the last century. SEQU O I A MIL L ER Japanese ceramics in the Miller Collection bridge the ancient past and the contemporary global present. M E G HEN J O NE S I don’t think we ever thought about collecting in a formal sense. We were going to collect something we liked and maybe from an artist we had gotten to know and liked their work. I think it was just getting to know artists and work. M A RL IN M IL L ER Marlin Miller’s deep understanding of materials and his interest in brick and its role in architecture informs a keen eye for surface texture, dimension and materiality. WAY NE HI G BY
ISBN 978-3-89790-504-7
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MATERIALITY: THE MILLER CERAMIC ART COLLECTION
In response to editor Wayne Higby’s question “Do you have a philosophy of life?” Miller responded, “I am driven by wanting to do something new every day, whatever I am involved with. Is there a new way, a new approach … a constant sense of curiosity to contribute something that improves something or that is new or innovative, keeping it as simple as possible, but keeping it meaningful.”
Wayne Higby (ed.)
Marlin Miller was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana. He received a BSc degree in ceramic engineering (material science) at Alfred University, Alfred, New York, in 1954. In 1955 he married Marcianne Maple (1933–1989), whom he met at Alfred while Maple was a student of ceramic art there (BFA, 1955). Marlin Miller went on to study at Harvard Business School, receiving an MBA in 1956. The Millers traveled to Europe, where Marlin Miller served as a lieutenant in the US Army Finance Corps from 1956 to 1959. Returning to the United States, Miller became Vice President and Director from 1959 to 1972 of the Glen-Gery Corporation, one of the nation’s largest brick manufacturers. The Miller’s first major piece of ceramic art, a large Val Cushing lidded jar, was acquired in 1971; from then the Miller Ceramic Art Collection began to take form over the next forty- eight years. Miller joined Connors Investor Services as Vice President in 1972 until 1975, when he became Chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Arrow International until his retirement in 2003. Miller then became President of Norwich Ventures in 2004 until the present day. Miller lives with his wife Regina “Ginger” Gouger Miller, a painter and stitchery artist. She is a Carnegie Mellon School of Art and Design graduate, who has continued to inspire a collection of what now consists of over 200 major works of ceramic art with an additional collection of paintings, textile art, and fine craft objects. Marlin Miller has served as an Alfred University Trustee from 1972 to the present day. He is the founder of the GoogleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading, PA, as well as a Life Trustee of the Haystack Mountain School of Craft, Deer Isle, Maine, and a Life Trustee of the American Craft Council. Miller has collaborated with renowned architect Michael McKinnell on several major projects, including three important philanthropic gifts: the Miller Center for the Arts, Reading, PA, the Miller Performing Arts Complex at Alfred University, and the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum also at Alfred University.
MATERIALITY: THE MILLER CERAMIC ART COLLECTION
The Miller Ceramic Art Collection features master works that highlight the artistic ideals of numerous luminaries of mid- twentieth-century through early-twenty-first-century American ceramic art. In addition, the collection includes important examples of contemporaneous European and Japanese ceramic artworks. The collection is uniquely well informed by Marlin Miller’s depth of understanding of materials, which began in the field of ceramic engineering and led for a period of time to a leadership role in one of the largest brick companies in North America. As the Miller Collection grew, Marlin Miller also began to facilitate his interest in contemporary architecture. This book on the Miller Ceramic Art Collection includes observations from the architect he inspired and pictures of the buildings and the ceramic art installations that resulted from their collaboration.
Essays by SEQUOIA MILLER, Chief Curator, Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, Canada MEGHEN JONES, Assistant Professor of Art History, Director of Global Studies, New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University MICHAEL MCKINNELL, Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects, Boston, MA WAYNE HIGBY, artist, professor, Director and Chief Curator, Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, Alfred University
Photography by Brian Oglesbee