Episode 19: David T Miller: In Dialogue With The Work

I was excited to talk with David T Miller, whose work is so full of color and texture. He talked about having a dialogue with his work and encouraging his students to do the same – to listen to the work and what it tells you. This is a long one, so I’m going to get right into it.

I love how David talked about his lack of confidence and not necessarily overcoming it, but realizing that all artists deal with that and just accepting it. He said he settled in to what he does and who he is.

David T Miller has been active in art education since 1980 when he began teaching art at a High School in San Antonio Texas. After a period of seven years in the classroom, he became an Admissions Counselor for the Kansas City Art Institute. Art school admissions travel provided a first hand, national perspective of high school and community college art classrooms and their students. This was augmented by regular attendance at national and regional portfolio day events with insight obtained from countless student interviews and portfolio reviews. Miller’s initial goal was to return to the classroom energized and informed by the experience of two or three years of admissions travel. In 1998, eleven years and four art colleges later (Kansas City Art Institute, School of the Museum of Fine Art Boston, San Francisco Art Institute and School of Visual Arts in NYC) he returned to the high school classroom at Wissahickon High School in Ambler, Pennsylvania.

He currently teaches courses titled Honors Art, Portfolio Art, AP Art and Ceramics 1. He received the Secondary Art Teacher of the Year Award from the Pennsylvania Art Education Association in 2015. Miller’s teaching methodology has been referred to in various publications. He believes in student discovery as the primary path to learning. He believes all students are artists and everything can be considered art. One of his primary goals in the classroom is to stay out of students’ way.

Miller is an active art maker. His work is of a non-representational nature that strives for spontaneity and undirected playfulness. He has exhibited nationally and internationally. He has degrees from Southwest Texas State University and University of the Arts.