The Art of Adrien Miller

Ceramic People

2011-07-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

Vipassana Student

Mary

Hello Dear

Uprightness

A good friend is a great gift

Search & Expand

Every moment is whispering a change to awareness

Summertime at the lake

First piece to make a ceramic piece to go with a glass cast

The Lovers

"The dreamer is here and now"
This piece is composed of pieces I made as demonstrations for my ceramics classes

Flowing Locks

Stillnes in the cave of mind

Self Portrait 2010

Platters, Plates, and roundels

2011-01-01T20:57:00.000-08:00

Bright Blissful Lovers

Metta

Visit From The Moon Goddess

The Lovers

Tender Love And Care

Recent Sand Cast Glass

2010-04-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

May All Beings Be Happy And Free

Kuan Yin

This Prism head is designed so the face can be seen in an internal reflection from the top.

Clear Laughter

Prism Smile

Imaginary Self Portrait

Dancing

The Open Heart

These are two of my first experiments using colored glass powder on the back of the piece.

Sometimes the vision for a piece is so clear, yet the process forces a new set of problems to be solved. In this case I was trying to make a hollow figure in the round inside a solid block of glass by making a sand core to pour around. It took about 4 full ladles of glass, and somewhere around the second one, the fluid molten glass broke the arms off the sand core and floated them up to the top of the piece where they blew glass bubbles. In my efforts to roll with it, I ended up sawing off those corners and polishing the sides. This is what emerged.

This one made it through with the arms in the intended expansive posture, yet this piece couldn't be cast in the round because the sand core arms actually broke before the pouring, so the whole figure is slightly embedded in the sand to keep the arms in position.

Inspired by those powerful moments when one feels that there is no separation between the body and the vast expanse of all the space in the universe.

Namaste

Figurative Ceramic Sculpture

2009-11-07T14:03:00.000-08:00

A Minor Investigation of the Inner Void

The Witness

Celebration in the Cave
(After an Ajanta cave painting detail of the miracle of Sarasvati)

"Floating above the muck"

Dancer Leaping in Supreme Joy

Laughing Friend

When it rains, we dance

Fish Lotus Posture
Matsyasana

"Mother Earth"

"Day Trip to the Ocean, Waves Rise and Fall"

"Contra Pasta"

This Life size ceramic figure was built based on the smaller version below, which is now embedded in a large block of sand cast glass. The unfired sculpture was modeled on an armature with a rod sticking out the back, and when dry I held it sightly floating in a box shaped sand mold and had 3 large ladles of molten glass poured around it. The dry clay started popping beneath the molten glass and blowing big glass bubbles which were popped with a blow torch as any little moisture was trying to escape the clay. This was one of the most exciting sand-casting experiments, and one that required a great deal of cold working afterward.

Ice Queen

This was one of my tables in my College studio at CCA, circa 2007

Self Portrait
My First Life size sculpture, 2004

A Drop in the Ocean

"Gaia in Orbit"

"Vulnerability and Strength"
Life Size

"Finding The Ancient Essence"

Inner growth

"The Struggle for an Open Mind"

Totem

Panda Man with Aloe

Rainbow Lotus

Be Happy

Interconnected endangering

"Remain Alert"

"I had a feeling I was a cat in a past life"
Sometimes working with clay and a live model, strange things begin to reveal themselves about the sitter's nature.

Sleep

"Medicine Woman"

Headstand Cunnilingus

"From the heart"

"Opening entirely to life as it is"

"Let us now celebrate exploding stars"
Glazed ceramic

Paint chips

2009-10-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

Introspection

Homeless man asleep

Woman in a cloak

Not everything has to have a reason

Chin Chin's first Halloween house party in America

Wandering the streets

bust

Emergence

Sculptor

Kundalini Yogini

Foot behind head posture
(Eka Pada Sirsasana)

What are you doing?

Some people understand

accepting reality can be difficult

Spend time doing what you love to do

nobody said it was easy

I wonder

This is a selection of a continuous project involving thick, layered paint chips peeling off of a graffiti wall that gets painted over regularly. I've been collecting pieces of the paint, some as thick as a quarter inch and re-painting the surface with fresh imagery. Some of them start as a palette and pictures loosely emerge from leftover paint, while others are rendered from photographs or drawings. The non-preciousness makes for a good space to freestyle. I exhibit them as clusters, and in every different arrangement, new stories emerge.

Interconnection

2009-06-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

"The wall of destructive creativity"
Photo by Shayla Miller

An article titled "Interconnection" was recently published about my work in New York magazine "Ins & Outs". The online version can be read here in the arts section, http://www.licmagazine.com/content.php?magazine=14
Enjoy

Teapots

2009-06-06T19:09:00.000-07:00

Kuan Yin

Elephant Teapot

Bird friend

Smile at the Mystery

Metta Practice

Sweet Dreams

Insight Develops Wisdom

Waking up

Arise & shine

Guan Yin

Dreaming Sculpture

Teacher teapot

"Teapot of inner peace"

Organic Teapot

Freedom

Relaxation

Reflection Holograms

2009-05-13T21:43:00.001-07:00

All works in this section are reflection holograms of my ceramic fugures, made with a helium neon laser on glass film plates. Color photographs are subtly displayed behind the plates to add a 2d space for the 3d hologram to float in.

"Space people"
8"x10"

"Thinker"
8"x10"

"The theatrics of assumed identity"
8"x10"

"Awe"
4"x5"

"Man in a hood"
4"x5"

"The Observers"
8"x10"

Multiple Exposures

2009-04-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

Dancing on Ruins
(the constant celebration of new moments)

The pains of traffic

High Winds

"Danae of Oakland"
After Titian

City Woman

Habitat

Up in the Air

Venus of the Wires

Bather

Locked 1

Locked 2

The Ice Cave Has Melted

Freefall

Impermanence

Dances at Dusk

Rise!

Naked Stroboscopic Dancer

Their Roots Have Been Replaced for Roofs

Are we Ancient?

Laughing Sisters

Global Veins

Star Dust

Industrial Landscape

The Joy Of Urban Decay

Seville

Handstand Skyscraper

Concrete Factory

Head in the sand

What I Do to the Earth, I Do to Myself

The Wheel Keeps Turning

The Bridge

All Photographs in this section are color film prints made in the darkroom. Some are in-camera double exposures, some are printed from multiple negatives. My intention with these images is to visualize the interconnectedness of all things, especially that of humanity and the earth. Prints are available in 8"x 10", 11"x 14", and 16"x 20"

Cast Glass Art

2009-04-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

"Ice Queen"
Sand Cast Glass, Clay, Metal

"Venus of the Sands"
Sand Cast

"Sitting with One's Thoughts"
Sand Cast

"Prismatic Cheeks"
Sand Cast

"Listening to the Little Voices"
Sand Cast

"Introspection"
Sand Cast

"Face it"
Cold-worked Sand Cast

"Venus of the Inner-Outer"
Cold-worked Sand Cast

"Population Crisis"
Kiln Cast

"Torso"
Kiln Cast

"Group of Friends"
Sand Cast

Paintings On Canvas

2009-04-22T10:12:00.000-07:00

"Smile at your thoughts"

Familiarity with form

"Balancing forces of the universe"
2009
18"x24"

AZIJ ANOM
After Mona Lisa
2006
3'x4'

Not Knowing is Okay

Clarity and distortion

Cartwheels

Everything Is Happening All The Time

Leap from Nowhere

Headstand (Sirshasana)
2008

Empathy

Museum Study

Summer

Sky Bather

Swimmers Jumping into Lake Washington

Sunset Song At View Point Park
2003

Interconnection

Burning Labels

What Is Home?

Adam & Eve Riding A Unicorn Through The Garden Of Eden
2008 (Commission for a private collection)

Bridge pose
(Urdhva Dhanurasana)
2008

Jump for Joy
2008

The Transformation of the UrbaNatural
2008
5'x6'

The Game
2006
3'x4'

Funktional Ware

2009-04-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

Pot Head

Yin Yang Vase

Unicorn and rider

Buddha cup

Friend

"Dancing Bodhisattva"

Joy In Light

Happy Planters

Jug Head

Lover Bottle

Friend Face Vase

Some Face Cups

Slip painted cups

Dessert Bowl

Adrien Jar

Relief Cups

Cookie Jar

Smiling Vase

My ceramics education was focused on sculpture. It was not until after graduating college that I started making anything on the wheel. I was substitute teaching a seniors ceramics class, and the students were mostly interested in throwing on the wheel, and one of them told me that if I was to teach clay, it was essential that I know how to throw. So I began to teach myself so I could help the students who wanted to make pots and not sculpture. I quickly fell in love with the wheel, and generally use my thrown forms as a functional beginning for sculpted and image decorated forms. You may notice they're mostly all smiling. It is my intention to make functional work with and underlying sense of joy and happiness.