Don P. Miller was born in 1941 in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1963 he received a B.F.A. at the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1965 a M.F.A. at the Tulane University in New Orleans. Since 1965 he has been teaching at the Art Department of the University of Wisconsin at River Falls as professor for painting, design and computer graphics. Besides various regional exhibitions he took part in many international shows including the SIGGRAPH Art Show, Dallas 1990, the "Flux 90" "New Visions in Computer Art" Muskegon (MI) 1990, "For the Birds" at the Wustrum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine (WI) 1990, "Computer Assisted Hardcopy-Crash" Beloit (WI) 1990.

Overall my work utilizes the computer as a tool rather than a medium. I find the visual processing and editing capability of the hardware and software to be exciting, the possibilities are seemingly limitless. Being able to manipulate an image by enlarging, stretching, rotating, condensing, relocating and merging with other images, all with incredible efficiency, makes the computer an invaluable tool.

The human form as mummy has always fascinated me for its historical and spiritual association, the stylized and essential form of the bound figure is dominant in my compositions. Containment and protection evoked by the cocoon-like wrapping are qualities I seek to incorporate in my work. Calligraphic elements that find their way into my images are reflective of an interest in maps, charts and diagrams which are visually rich. I intend these symbolic gestures to signify and enhance a ritualistic sense in my configurations. Generally my imagery consists of an integration of organic form, mainly the human figure with geometric elements that have mechanical or machine references. The tension between opposites is central to my art making.

The equipment I use includes an Amiga l000 microcomputer (1.2 Megabyte of RAM) with a high resolution R.G.B. monitor and a black and white video camera. The video camera and digitizing software allow me to input and display on the monitor still video images. I can then use a combination of commercial software packages to alter those images with editing routines and additive graphic elements, such as lines, colors, shapes and textures. The manipulated images are eventually given tangible form, hard copy with a Xerox C150 ink jet printer.

Technical Background

HW: Amiga 1000
SW: Digiview, Deluxe Paint II