Myrtle Beach Art Museum Exhibition Highlights MB Artist, Art Advocate

William Miller is a high-energy guy. Besides being a prolific artist – creating abstract works that merge two strikingly different media, traditional painting and digital art — Miller is a gallery owner, a mentor to other artists and a tireless advocate for the arts. Following the opening of William H. Miller Studios and Fine Art in 2015, he encouraged other galleries and studios to move into the area, sparking the growth of a downtown Myrtle Beach arts district; and in early 2017 he spearheaded the creation of First Friday Art Walks.

Area residents now have a chance to experience Miller’s creative genius in an exhibition titled William H. Miller: What You See Is What You Get, opening January 2 and running through April 22 at the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum. An opening reception, featuring a gallery talk by the artist, will be held from 3 – 5 p.m. January 7. Regular gallery hours will be from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. Sundays.

The exhibition’s title is a definite misnomer, as Miller’s abstract work is so much more than what appears on the canvas. Miller paints, in his words, “to communicate complex themes and emotions . . . meant to stir a viewer’s visual mind – activating, adding to and remixing notions of imagery and meaning.” Moreover, he suggests that the work is “incomplete until the viewer brings his own experiences and perceptions into the process.”

In 35 works in both traditional and digital media and in both small and large scale, Miller combines tantalizing combinations of bold colors and unique mark-making that suggest images and themes – somewhere just beyond our sight. He leaves it to the viewer to fill in the details of “what’s it all about.”

Miller’s works have earned him an Artist Venture Initiative Grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission as well as invitations to the 2016 and 2017 ArtFields competitions in Lake City. His work is included in private collections from Texas to New York City, as well as in South Carolina and Tennessee.

Admission to the opening reception – and to the museum at all times – is free. For further information, call 843-238-2510 or visit www.MyrtleBeachArtMuseum.org.