Koger Center Upstairs Gallery to Open a New Group Exhibit - “Beat of the Heart” curated by Keith Tolen

“What is the beat of a heart?”

Keith Tolen - artist

The Koger Center for the Arts’ next art exhibition in the Upstairs Gallery features five of Columbia’s finest visual artists: Keith Tolen, Fred Townsend, Rodgers Boykin, Jeffrey Miller, and Ryan McClendon. The exhibit opens April 29 and will be housed in the Koger Center until July 1. The exhibit’s opening reception is scheduled for May 23, from 6 – 8 p.m., and is free to the public.

Tolen, a fellow member of the Jasper Project Board of Directors, approached the four other artists with an idea. A group exhibit showcasing artwork that answered the question “what is the beat of a heart?” in connection to the heart of South Carolina. The work engages the viewer to view the artist’s perspective on the idea and reflect on their own interpretations.

Exhibition Statement: “What is the beat of a heart? It is the contraction of your heart as it pumps blood to the rest of your body. One organ--made of valves, chambers, veins and arteries--is responsible for keeping an entire body--movement, consciousness, breathing--in working order. The thumping in our ears, the press of fingers to palm to check pulse, these are how we know our hearts beat, that we are alive. This exhibition features five moments represented by the work of five artists; each artist may be a key part of this show’s artistic body, but what connects them is this beat. Specifically, this heartbeat seeks to infuse the Carolinas with a pulse of new blood as each artist shares their Carolina experience highlighting the richness of living in this area.

Jeffrey Miller - artist

Each artist will share their images based on personal interpretation of the theme: what is art, and how does it serve as a heartbeat living in the Carolinas? The Carolinas pose a beauty that stretches across the terrain from the mountains and foothills to the piedmonts and swamps and, finally, out to the ocean. The diversity of the creative experience will be showcased as these five artists bring to visual light the magic of colors, shapes, and special details to share their stories. The goal of this collection is to engage the viewer with a creative journey into the broad array of expressionism that connects with our rich surroundings. The collective artworks seek to enrich the heart of every viewer as they explore the unique designs displayed in their bold beauty--arteries and veins that run through our state and ourselves. Leaving this body of work will have the viewers longing to purchase a piece in order to continue sharing in the lifeforce of these talented artists. This new blood represents a dose of new energy, pumping throughout not just the show, but each of our bodies, our community. The answer to the question, "what is art?" will become clearer to the audience as they savor each individual image, feeling it beat behind their own chests.”

Ryan McClendon - artist

The Koger Center Upstairs Gallery is open to the public Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and an hour prior to any Koger Center for the Arts performance

-Emily Moffitt

Jeffrey Miller’s Exploration of Life Through Humor, Audacity, Absurdity and Juxtaposition

I was once told by someone that they did not know if they liked my work because I wasn't doing what everybody else was doing. I have never before been so complimented— Jeffrey Miller

Jeffrey Miller’s work traces a handful of related themes, ideas, and images through a variety of mediums. He is an artist always exploring and keeping options open—and he is Jasper’s featured Tiny Gallery artist for the month of September. 

Miller grew up in small-town Campbellsville, Kentucky, a “typical child except for an oversized imagination and an unrelenting curiosity.” While he did not grow up around art, he often drew in the margins of his mom’s old textbooks—deterred from marking up the walls of his home instead. Of all things, though, it was an encyclopedia that began the blossoming of Miller’s identity as an artist. 

“One day my father drew a polar bear sketch that he copied from those encyclopedias; excited, I asked him to do it again but instead he gave me the pencil and told me to do it myself,” Miller recalls. “That was all the encouragement I needed. I was about 5 years old then, and I got my first real commission at the age of 12—I earned $100 for painting a logo for a truck driver on both doors of his truck.” 

From this moment, Miller went on to commit himself to art, receiving an art scholarship from Campbellsville University and finishing his art degree at Murray State University 

“At University I was introduced to and gained more knowledge about materials and art history; as far as process, though, it seems more I just learned the name to call what I was already doing,” Miller says. “The biggest and most influencing thing was the atmosphere and the presence of so many other people involved in the creative process…that I really miss!”

BLACK CAT BLUES

Since getting his degree, Miller has continued to grow and expand his horizons. One of his greatest fears is being trapped in a box. As he says, there are “too many possibilities to explore.” In his mind, work predicts medium, so the more mediums one is familiar with, the more the subject matter can spread its wings. 

“Being a good painter or good in whatever chosen medium is a technical evaluation—creativity is something more,” he says. “Besides which, good is a relative term so it literally tells you nothing about an art piece.” 

And art is something Miller is always doing. When asked what he does when not creating, he says that he sees everything he partakes in within his everyday life as some form of artmaking. In that vein, Miller does not have a specific theme he chases—in fact, he sees this as one of the limitations people place around artists and their work. 

In his mind, work predicts medium, so the more mediums one is familiar with, the more the subject matter can spread its wings. 

“People ask what I was thinking when I did this piece or that piece. The only answer is my thinking was absorbed in the piece I'm working on at the time. Anything else is an afterthought,” he says. “The work is complete when I've done my job as an artist and I'm on to the next canvas. The important thing is what [the viewer] brings to the piece, what do [they] think. A piece of art is not complete without the viewer, and each viewer will bring thoughts of their own.” 

If he could find a throughline in his piece, he would say it is all, in some way or another, a celebration of life in all its forms, regardless of the themes and emotions within. If art is in his every day, his art also shows the everyday.

VENUS OF THE BAYOU

“There is an ebb and flow, a push and pull, a transitoriness about life that must be reflected in one's art if that art is about life. The imagery, ideas, and concepts are a reflection of day-to-day life which I personally tend to express through humor, audacity, absurdity, and juxtaposition,” Miller says. “I was once told by someone that they did not know if they liked my work because I wasn't doing what everybody else was doing. I have never before been so complimented.” 

In this Tiny Gallery show, Miller shows off these juxtapositions of life in his newest medium: printmaking, of which he has had an introductory class and, so far, is “finding nothing about it that [he doesn’t] like.” Adjacently, he has started exploring digital art, and he has found himself particularly connected to a new digital image he made—the cover photo of this article.  

“[The piece] totally reflects the art that is me—the art just described to you in the above paragraphs. I usually work from a fleeting mental image in response to something I've seen, heard, or read,” he says. “The mental image may or may not come immediately but it always comes in the same way, like a light brush across the cheek or a fast, flashing image like from the old slide projectors. I turn to get a better look and it is gone. There are times when I only see it when the piece is done—I like it that way.”

THE FALCONER

Perhaps it is this mindset that has led to Miller winning a handful of art contests, including an advertising award from Doe Anderson Advertising Co., as well as serving as an educator for the Lexington Library Adult Education Program for four years.

 Today, he displays at various festivals and community sponsored events, and you can see—and purchase—his work 24/7 until the end of September at Jasper’s online gallery space. After the show, interested patrons can follow his journey on Facebook and Instagram @ Jeffrey Miller Artworks.