Ross Miller (artist)
Encyclopedia
Ross Miller is an American
visual artist.
Ross Miller is a visual artist whose work integrates art into the public landscape. Through site-based projects his work reinforces community identity in outdoor spaces, and create places for private reflection within public environments.
, Mentors during his studies were poet Emmett Williams
, industrial designer Eva Zeisel
, and conceptual artist Douglas Huebler
.
One example, the Ancient Fishweir Project
, is based on history of fishweirs used over 5,300 years ago in the place that is now called Boston. In what is now Boston’s Back Bay, Native people built fishweirs in tidal flats to catch alewife, smelt and salmon. The 4 feet (1.2 m), fence-like structures were woven of alder, willow saplings and brush wattling and were made of over 65,000 wood stakes. Miller developed an annual Public Art installation project on the Boston Common
to bring attention to this overlooked piece of history. The annual event brings together Boston Public School children with local artists, archeologists, educators and Native Americans to recreate a replica of an ancient fishweir on the Charles Street side of the Boston Common.
Other Projects include: Original Shoreline Public Artwork created by etching Boston’s former harbor edge (c. 1630) into granite between Faneuil Hall and City Hall; Salt Marsh Trace - fountain and historical sculptures, at University Park at MIT
a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research Park, Cambridge, MA; and an educational miniature golf course for the Boston Children's Museum.
Lighting work, more decorative in nature, has been developed by Miller from an original system developed from steel cable, net and commercial electric fixtures. These light installations contribute to urban experience in the dark cold times - at night and in the winter. At night the artworks appear to float. The lights are wired to nets suspended from buildings or poles. Hanging 40–50 feet over the street, these pieces create gateways over the street adding to celebration of downtown urban areas. This lighting system has been used in over 75 installations in 9 cities in the East Coast of the United States.
Early design work includes patents for education toys and collapsable furniture.
created as part of Boston's Big Dig Highway Project.
Designer for the Outdoor Classroom Pilot Projects, a series of experiential educational garden landscapes for Boston Public Schools
and the Boston Schoolyard Initiative
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
visual artist.
Ross Miller is a visual artist whose work integrates art into the public landscape. Through site-based projects his work reinforces community identity in outdoor spaces, and create places for private reflection within public environments.
Beginnings
Miller was born in Cambridge England. HIs farther a glaciologist who studies long term climate change and mother was a musician. Miller earned his undergraduate degree in Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Mentors during his studies were poet Emmett Williams
Emmett Williams
Emmett Williams was an American poet and visual artist.Williams was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and grew up in Virginia, and lived in Europe from 1949 to 1966...
, industrial designer Eva Zeisel
Eva Zeisel
Eva Striker Zeisel is a Hungarian-born industrial designer known for her work with ceramics, primarily from the period after she immigrated to the United States. Her forms are often abstractions of the natural world and human relationships...
, and conceptual artist Douglas Huebler
Douglas Huebler
Douglas Huebler was an American conceptual artist.-Life and career:Douglas Huebler grew up in rural Michigan during the Depression and served in the Marines in World War II...
.
Work
Concern about the lack of meaning in non-site-specific public art practices and the limitations and selective private nature of studio based art lead Miller to work in the public realm. Rather than imposing a specific medium or content on a site, his ideas evolve by examining the site’s ecological and social history, patterns of pedestrian activity, quality of light, and proposed future uses in order to create public artwork that makes direct connection with the site, heightening one’s experience of being in that specific place. Sited in publicly accessible locations - urban squares and parks, in schools, subway tunnels, along highways and over city streets - these projects evolve through collaboration with local residents, school and community groups, planners, architects, landscape architects and other artists. The projects range from urban and architectural scale installations to intimate pedestrian scale sculptures.One example, the Ancient Fishweir Project
Ancient Fishweir Project
Ancient Fishweir Project is a collaborative group that creates an annual public art installation on Boston Common. In the spring of each year, members of the Massachuset and Wampanoag Native American tribes work with students, educators and artists to construct a fish-weir in honor of the people...
, is based on history of fishweirs used over 5,300 years ago in the place that is now called Boston. In what is now Boston’s Back Bay, Native people built fishweirs in tidal flats to catch alewife, smelt and salmon. The 4 feet (1.2 m), fence-like structures were woven of alder, willow saplings and brush wattling and were made of over 65,000 wood stakes. Miller developed an annual Public Art installation project on the Boston Common
Boston Common
Boston Common is a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts. It is sometimes erroneously referred to as the "Boston Commons". Dating from 1634, it is the oldest city park in the United States. The Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street, Park Street, Beacon Street,...
to bring attention to this overlooked piece of history. The annual event brings together Boston Public School children with local artists, archeologists, educators and Native Americans to recreate a replica of an ancient fishweir on the Charles Street side of the Boston Common.
Other Projects include: Original Shoreline Public Artwork created by etching Boston’s former harbor edge (c. 1630) into granite between Faneuil Hall and City Hall; Salt Marsh Trace - fountain and historical sculptures, at University Park at MIT
University Park at MIT
University Park at MIT is a mixed-use urban renewal project in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, occupying land near Central Square between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus and the primarily residential neighborhood of Cambridgeport...
a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research Park, Cambridge, MA; and an educational miniature golf course for the Boston Children's Museum.
Lighting work, more decorative in nature, has been developed by Miller from an original system developed from steel cable, net and commercial electric fixtures. These light installations contribute to urban experience in the dark cold times - at night and in the winter. At night the artworks appear to float. The lights are wired to nets suspended from buildings or poles. Hanging 40–50 feet over the street, these pieces create gateways over the street adding to celebration of downtown urban areas. This lighting system has been used in over 75 installations in 9 cities in the East Coast of the United States.
Early design work includes patents for education toys and collapsable furniture.
Current work
Current permanent Public Art installations include an interactive water fountain in Boston's Mission Hill Park; Falls Fountain in Festival Plaza, Auburn, Maine; LIttoral Way, a 1/2 mi pedestrian walkway for the Central Artery Tunnel Project; and a permanent installation called Harbor Fog that is a motion sensor–activated fog, LED light and granite sculptural environment for the Rose Kennedy GreenwayRose Kennedy Greenway
The Rose Kennedy Greenway is a roughly 1.5-mile-long long series of parks and public spaces being created in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, USA. It is the final part of the Big Dig that put Interstate 93 underground and removed the elevated freeway that served as the main highway through downtown...
created as part of Boston's Big Dig Highway Project.
Designer for the Outdoor Classroom Pilot Projects, a series of experiential educational garden landscapes for Boston Public Schools
Boston Public Schools
Boston Public Schools is a school district serving the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States.-Leadership:The district is led by a Superintendent, hired by the Boston School Committee, a seven-member school board appointed by the Mayor after approval by a nominating committee of specified...
and the Boston Schoolyard Initiative
Boston Schoolyard Initiative
Boston Schoolyard Initiative is a public private partnership that works to transform the conditions of public schoolyards of Boston Public Schools. BSI, in collaboration with private funders, the City of Boston and Boston Public Schools, uses a community participatory design process to change...
.