Artists & Communities Host Site: Tullahoma Fine Arts Center
401 South Jackson Street
Tullahoma, TN 37388
Web site: www.tullahomafinearts.org

Millennium Artist:
Jeremiah Miller
Painter
North Carolina
E-mail: Jere46miah@aol.com

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

While in residence with the Tullahoma Fine Arts Center in Tullahoma, Tennessee, artist Jeremiah Miller put an innovative spin on the art of traditional mural making.

Over the course of four months, Miller, a painter from North Carolina, worked closely with Tullahoma community members to create a polyptych depicting the changing social and physical environment of this rural community. A polyptych is defined as "a set of four or more panels with pictures, carvings, etc. often hinged for folding together, used as an altarpiece."

The Tullahoma Polyptych consists of hinged panels and a sliding grid section. Portable by design, the work measures 11 feet in height and stretches 64 feet wide when the hinged wings are fully opened. The outside of the polyptych, with the wings closed, features a painting created by Miller and community members. When the wings of the polyptych are swung open, the community response is revealed, with the work of Tullahoma fourth-graders on the outside wings and the work of community individuals and groups exposed on the moveable grid in the center of the piece. When the moveable grid is rolled to one side, the core panel is reveals an intimate view of specific locations in the area.

Miller worked with fourth-graders at Bel Aire, Farrar, Robert E. Lee, and East Lincoln Elementary Schools to create paintings for the polyptych that depicted the four seasons. Farrar students kicked off the project by creating a panel on spring. Bel Aire students painted summer, Robert E. Lee fourth-graders interpreted fall, and East Lincoln depicted winter.

The completed artwork was installed in a park behind the First National Bank in Tullahoma, and dedicated in November. Lucy Hollis, Director of Tullahoma Fine Arts Center, said that the project sought to document Tullahoma at the turn of the century. Hollis described the piece as "reflective of the natural landscape and waters found throughout Tennessee."

Ariel McGee, a fourth-grader at Farrar Elementary School, enthusiastically embraced the project, because, she proclaimed, "you get to be messy and you get out of class."

Like Ariel, ten-year old Terrence Hill threw himself into painting images for the polyptych. Planning for his future, Hill theorized, "I'll probably play professional football for a year, then be an artist for two years, then go back to a professional football player."

Jeremiah Miller enjoyed working with the Tullahoma community during his Artists & Communities residency, especially the children. "Kids have the right spirit," he said. "They haven't reached the age where they are concerned about the financial and political--they just want to express themselves. And that's the way I am."

MILLENNIUM ARTIST BIO

Jeremiah Miller is a painter, designer, photographer, and educator whose work is featured in the collections of the Alabama Power Company, Blue Ridge Community College, George Washington University, National Park Service, Prudential Life Insurance, and South Carolina State Collection.