Art was his life and his language

By Becky Buher Nov 8, 2016—Museum Corner article printed in the Bedford Times-Mail newspaper

In June 1948, thousands of people came to Bedford for the opening of the week-long Indiana Limestone Industry Centennial celebration. Representatives from 17 nations were in attendance. One of the attractions during the week was an art exhibit at the Bedford Public Library featuring the work of Albert Wilton Miller. During the celebration, Tri Kappa sponsored a public tea and reception honoring this young Bedford artist.

But who was Albert Miller? And why should we be interested in an artist who exhibited some 70 years ago?

Artistic young Albert W. Miller graduated from Bedford High School in 1936. In the BHS yearbook, the description with his senior picture states his ambition was “to have a place in the world of art.”

Last year, the North Lawrence Community Schools donated one of his paintings to the museum with the hope that museum visitors might be able to enjoy it. The landscape painting is thought to be one of Miller’s early works.

The painting was originally located at Bedford High School, but it is not known how the school acquired it. Through the years, social organizations, such as the Ladies of the Round Table, donated art to BHS to improve the students’ appreciation and education of art.

BHS ceased to exist when the school became part of the North Lawrence system. As can happen over long periods of time, the painting was damaged.

However, the Ladies of the Round Table came to the rescue and provided for the painting’s restoration. Sherry Battista of Indianapolis restored it, and it is now on exhibit in the museum meeting room.

Albert W. Miller was born in Missouri in 1917. His parents were Albert W. Miller Sr. and Laura J. Davis Miller. The family moved to Bedford, and the parents lived in their home at 2213 H St., for over 50 years.

In the 1930 census, young Albert had two younger brothers, Robert and William. The boys grew up in Bedford. Their father was a blacksmith at the Bedford Foundry in 1930, and later was listed in Bedford City Directories as a City Attendant Officer and later as an Attendance Supervisor for the City Schools.

After Albert graduated from Bedford High School, he received both a bachelor of art education and bachelor of fine arts degrees from John Herron School of Art, the College of Fine and Applied Art of Indiana University. He studied and lived in Europe as a Guggenheim Scholar followed by three years of graduate work at the University of Illinois where he also taught for five years.

His obituary on Bedford Online said, “Miller’s artwork included non-objective, realistic and abstract styles applied to portraiture, landscape, still life, and figure painting. His mediums included oil, acrylic, watercolor, and collage. During his long career, he operated his own art school in Cincinnati and had gallery representation in New York and throughout the country. A locally famous painting, “The Old Swimming Hole,” depicted the blue-green swimming enjoyment of an abandoned stone quarry near Bedford. The painting was commissioned by and presented to the Indiana Limestone Company and hung in its corporate office for two decades.” That 1947 painting is currently displayed at the StoneGate Arts & Education Center.

Miller once said, “Organizing living space was much like organizing the elements of a painting.” His obituary continued, “Miller designed office buildings, a medical arts building, and more than a dozen homes, including his contemporary home in Missouri which was designed to fit into a 120-foot limestone cliff in the Ozarks. Miller’s designs were also used by NASA for the nation’s first satellite, by the U.S. Navy for portions of the first Nautilus submarines, and by Volkswagen in their advertising campaign in the United States. Miller also served as a partner in Motivation Dynamics, a Chicago advertising firm.”

His death at age 91 in 2009 ended a commercial and fine arts career spanning more than five decades. I think we could agree he did accomplish his ambition to create a real place in the world of art.

Plan to come to the museum to see Miller’s painting. It’s located in the meeting room on the first floor.