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The Art and Life of John Paul Miller
Lunchtime Lecture
Tags for: The Art and Life of John Paul Miller
- Lecture
- Ticket Required
Come to the CMA for a quick bite of art history. Every first Tuesday of each month, join curators, conservators, scholars, and other museum staff for 30-minute talks on objects currently on display in the museum galleries.
Tuesday, June 3, 2025, 12:00–1:00 p.m.
Leslie Cade, Director of Ingalls Library and Museum Archives
Location: Gartner Auditorium
Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Free; Ticket Required
John Paul Miller at work, about 1960. The Cleveland Museum of Art Archives
About The Event
At once an artist, teacher, and craftsman, John Paul Miller personified a lifetime of creative expression. Orphaned at the age of two, he began taking Saturday morning classes at the CMA at the age of five and was entranced by the museum’s collection of gold and enamel boxes, and the rare 14th-century table fountain. His instructors included artists Paul Travis and Kenneth Bates. He considered stage design as a career but decided to continue his art studies at the Cleveland School of Art, now CIA. On the first day of classes, he was seated next to Frederick Miller, who became his lifelong partner in art. John Paul’s fascination with technique and process emerged in his groundbreaking rediscovery in the 1950s of granulation, an ancient yet forgotten way of fusing tiny gold beads to a gold surface without solder. This discovery led to the creation of intensely intricate works based on natural forms. The story of John Paul Miller’s life is filled with artistic collaboration, discoveries, partnerships, music, and travel.
Sponsors
All education programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Education. Principal support is provided by Dieter and Susan M. Kaesgen. Major annual support is provided by Brenda and Marshall Brown, David and Robin Gunning, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, Medical Mutual of Ohio, Gail C. and Elliott L. Schlang, Shurtape Technologies, and the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation. Generous annual support is provided by Gini and Randy Barbato, the M. E. and F. J. Callahan Foundation, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Char and Chuck Fowler, the Giant Eagle Foundation, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Logsdon Family Fund for Education, Sarah Nash, Courtney and Michael Novak, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, the Pickering Foundation, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, the Sally and Larry Sears Fund for Education Endowment, Roy Smith, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Trilling Family Foundation, Jack and Jeanette Walton, and the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
The Cleveland Museum of Art is funded in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
Education programs are supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.
