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Artist Conceptual Statement:

Beyond Museums: Living in Artifice Amidst the Historification of Artifact:

My western home decor upbringing leaves my 2nd home away from home at St. Jerome. Walls lined with barbed-wire, Chief Whiteclouds artisanal portrait, stuffed pheasants rifles & a bright 70's triangular fireplace immersed my childhood into an immediate contrast to my surrounding desert environments which were filled with 1990's white stucco roof tops and pastel plastered art decor. Welcoming the contradiction of history & present, past & future & traditional vs. postmodern. This interdimensionality prompted my early childhood interest in abstractism, Mozart, Westerns on television and ultimately MTV which contrasted the fantasy between dreaming and daily suburban life.

Early drawings of charcoal with art classes in adobe style pueblo art studios in down-town palm springs allowed for my expression in still life. Soon after, the early disposable cameras as I rode my bike down dirt paths of Coeur-D'Alene farm fields started by capturing sunset moments. My long camping trips in the deep woods of Idaho forests, in the actual sublime serenity of quiet forest nature nurtured by love for 3 dimensional art as I collected life-times worth of pine-cones to fly home for crafting. Summers in Wauwatosa included my Grandmother's English garden, Blackberry bushes, cotton-tails, records in the basement, painting classes, Sunday services and reading English literature in an upstairs extended patio nook with a type-writer for poetry and a heart full of endless words, short sleep and the AM breakfast calling from downstairs.

Early morning walks began my desert photography of our animals running and playing with the horizon of my black labrador, golden retriever and sheltie. This encouraged an awakening.

Ultimately, my father and I, Thomas Lee Miller JR began taking photos together of our journey to the great outdoors, where he loved the beach and I loved whales, leaving a complete 360 impression on me for my love of art. We both understood the power of greater understanding, the necessary and very human drive to explore the unknown, looking through galaxies at night through the family telescope, the need for intellectual perspectives and honored the timeless preservation of the earth through the work of Ansel Easton Adams. His great uncle was a Navajo settlement photographer. His Southern manner, grace and knowledge of maps were the atlas to my belief in the power of transformation and storytelling.

As an adopted child, his edifying sense of self-definition and pride was a beacon to my sense of fearlessness as I overcame many worldly and spiritual goals.

To my father, I dedicate my work and to my son, to always honor the teacher within and to never believe anything less than the possibility of creating your destiny.

As I endeavour the honor of your family's journey and estate's visual perspective: The connection is warmth, warmth to the idea, warmth to the vision and for the trust in the artist's lens.

@estates_85 curated photography design & vision creates the connection between artists to convey the experience of your living story-telling.