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928 Orange Avenue Coronado, CA 92118 |
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Artist's Biography |
Jesse Miller was born and grew up surfing in in San Diego. He always wanted to go to Hawaii where the water was warm, and the waves were good. When he started thinking about college, he learned about Brigham Young University-Hawaii, and couldn't think of going anywhere else. BYU-H is a small university in Laie, exactly 10 miles from Sunset Beach. He looked at all the programs they offered, and the Fine Arts program looked good. Before that, he hadn't ever really thought about art, much less producing it. But, once he got to school, he threw himself into everything head first. The surf was everything he had imagined and more, and the art program was exactly what he hoped for. He started out like any beginning art student would, but persisted and practiced and by the time he graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Art degree, he was winning awards in the college art shows.
After living in Hawaii for six years, he came back to San Diego, to continue to paint. He soon got a job with the City of San Diego as a beach lifeguard. That lets him work at the beach during the summer, and gives him all winter to concentrate on art. Being in touch with the Ocean is important for both lifeguarding, and for what Jesse paints. Landscapes, seascapes, figurative work and wildlife, all find a home in his work. He explains it like this: "I like to show others what I see in Life. My artwork is about what I look at, what I am about, and what I want to share with others". Almost all his work is inspired by what goes on like 500 feet in both directions from the shoreline. Not just the act of riding a wave, but the whole beach and surf culture surrounding it. There are millions of great surf shots published every month in magazines, so he looks to what goes on before and after surfing for inspiration. He wants to show what people who surf see and take for granted every day.
His style is more than just pretty pictures of the ocean. He has been compared to both Andrew Wyeth and Norman Rockwell. Not because of technique, or color scheme, but because the artists are able to evoke a specific sense of time, place, and emotion. Dedication, understanding, and philosophy all ignite Jesse's artwork. His work is more than people and places drawn convincingly, but art that lives and moves.
Jesse's art has been displayed throughout Hawaii and California, and his work has been found by collectors all over the United States, and even internationally. Yet, he feels he is just starting what will be a very illustrious career as an artist. And, his main goal has remained the same: Sharing with a viewer the allure and beauty of the ocean and all things that happen around it.