R. A. Miller was born and still resides in Gainesville, Georgia. He built a forest of whirligigs on an otherwise almost barren hill near his house. Representations of Uncle Sam, strange animals, angels, devils, and a colorful character called "Blow Oscar" turn dip, dive and swoop in the wind. "Blow Oscar," Miller explains, "is a big ol' boy who blows his horn every time he goes past."
Miller says that his guardian angel told him to build his environment and he has grown in popularity with folk art collectors and he has sold a large quantity of his work. Many of his whirligigs and paintings on tin have messages, such as "Lord Love You." Besides being a patriot, Miller was a preacher at the Free Will Baptist Church.
R.A. Miller is represented in many galleries and was included in "Georgia Folk Art," at the Quinlan Art Center in Gainesville, Georgia in 1991, as well as "Passionate Visions of the American South," at the New Orleans Museum of Art in 1993. He has been very sick recently and had to move into a nursing home.
|
