Goose Creek Studio was pleased to partner this year with a dozen or so local businesses, community organizations and the Town of Bedford to bring renewed life to our beleaguered farmers market. Under the leadership of a management team and our new market manager, the growth of and changes to the market have been no less than miraculous. Good things happen when the community comes together, and as a result, the market has become a place of community pride and witness to the entrepreneurial spirit of local area farmers and artisans.
But this is not a reflection on the local farmers market, but an exploration on the transformative power of art.
Early in the market season, we asked local photographer Robert Miller to shoot images of vendors and shoppers, as well as the rich variety of produce and products that would be for sale. We commissioned Miller for the task because we wanted more than just a visual record. We wanted him to capture the new life and the renewed energy emerging from the market and this collaborative community spirit. We had long admired the work Miller has done documenting events at the Sedalia Center, Bower Center for the Arts, 2nd Fridays, Centerfest and of course, our own events at Goose Creek Studio. In his engagement with this community over the past several years, Miller has revealed the transformative power of the photographic image to build community identity.
But this is not a reflection on the local farmers market, but an exploration on the transformative power of art.
Early in the market season, we asked local photographer Robert Miller to shoot images of vendors and shoppers, as well as the rich variety of produce and products that would be for sale. We commissioned Miller for the task because we wanted more than just a visual record. We wanted him to capture the new life and the renewed energy emerging from the market and this collaborative community spirit. We had long admired the work Miller has done documenting events at the Sedalia Center, Bower Center for the Arts, 2nd Fridays, Centerfest and of course, our own events at Goose Creek Studio. In his engagement with this community over the past several years, Miller has revealed the transformative power of the photographic image to build community identity.
Miller’s work creates a very different kind of art exhibition and a fresh way of seeing. His work is not stagnant or isolated to the obscurity of the white walls of the art gallery, but is a living art found regularly in the local newspapers and his consistent social media posts. He has a talent for capturing the vitality and creative spirit of an event and getting those images back out into the wider community, and thus, his art engages us in ways traditional art exhibitions rarely do. Gallery shows are often quiet and somber affairs as individuals silently contemplate a picture on the wall. Miller’s social media posts of events he has photographed provide a very different way of encountering the visual image. Miller creates a community conversation that is more dialogue and discovery than aesthetic contemplation. The community claims ownership of his work as they see themselves, their friends and the vitality of their community in his images. In many ways it hearkens back to an older understanding of the artists/artisan as a servant of the community’s ritual moments.
Miller’s photographs are not just documentary, they are an art form. He intentionally manipulates and filters the events that he shoots. A recognizable hallmark is his use of very bright and saturated colors. For Miller, the art making process only begins with what he sees through the lens and the click of the shutter. The power of his art is not just in his ability to choose a moment in time, compose a balance composition or even master the mechanics of his camera. The art making process really happens after Miller gets home and starts to process his images and weaves his shots into a more all-inclusive storytelling. The processing of his images post event becomes a critical component for making the image speak beyond the particulars of a moment in time.
Miller’s photographs are not just documentary, they are an art form. He intentionally manipulates and filters the events that he shoots. A recognizable hallmark is his use of very bright and saturated colors. For Miller, the art making process only begins with what he sees through the lens and the click of the shutter. The power of his art is not just in his ability to choose a moment in time, compose a balance composition or even master the mechanics of his camera. The art making process really happens after Miller gets home and starts to process his images and weaves his shots into a more all-inclusive storytelling. The processing of his images post event becomes a critical component for making the image speak beyond the particulars of a moment in time.
Great art is never solely about the artistic skills of an individual. Rather, great art captures and communicates something important about a particular time or people. And in that desire to communicate, great art seeks truth and is often willing to bend the visual particulars to seize the narrative thread.
For Miller to capture the essence of an event, he needs to literally change or embellish what the camera has captured. We all do the same thing in our own story telling and remembering. In fact, manipulation, embellishment or hyperbole are often critical ways to emphasize the role of an individual or the narrative of a story. “My grandma made the best cookies in the world.” The truth of that statement is not in the verifiable accuracy of the facts or grandma’s culinary skills, rather, the statement communicates the quality of a relationship. The true superiority of grandma’s cookies can only be understood in the depth on a relationship to her, and to communicate the depth of that relationship requires creative emphasis. If we focus only on the detail, we can miss the essence and the transformative power of a story. Great art often communicates in much the same way.
For Miller to capture the essence of an event, he needs to literally change or embellish what the camera has captured. We all do the same thing in our own story telling and remembering. In fact, manipulation, embellishment or hyperbole are often critical ways to emphasize the role of an individual or the narrative of a story. “My grandma made the best cookies in the world.” The truth of that statement is not in the verifiable accuracy of the facts or grandma’s culinary skills, rather, the statement communicates the quality of a relationship. The true superiority of grandma’s cookies can only be understood in the depth on a relationship to her, and to communicate the depth of that relationship requires creative emphasis. If we focus only on the detail, we can miss the essence and the transformative power of a story. Great art often communicates in much the same way.
In the same way Miller manipulates the image digitally to capture the truth in his seeing. Digital manipulation, filters and rich saturated colors are his tools for storytelling by serving as a way to concentrate on the narrative action. Miller understands the relational complexities of any event and works to capture a rich variety of vignettes. A single image can never hold the weight of an entire community gathering. And since the camera can only capture a momentary vignette within the rich complexities of ongoing actions, objects and relationships, Miller’s documentation of an event must be viewed through holding the multiple images together as a single thread.
When photographing a public event, Miller focuses his camera on people in relationship to one another, in relationship to their career or trade, or in the expression of their individuality or personality. He weaves each vignette he captures into the larger mood of the day. A series of ordinary moments that take on more universal qualities and a more complete story of who and what this community is or seeks to become.
When photographing a public event, Miller focuses his camera on people in relationship to one another, in relationship to their career or trade, or in the expression of their individuality or personality. He weaves each vignette he captures into the larger mood of the day. A series of ordinary moments that take on more universal qualities and a more complete story of who and what this community is or seeks to become.
In an arts community with an almost obsessive preoccupation with the more established forms for celebrating merit is artistic achievement … the gallery exhibition, sales or awards, Miller is forging a new (and maybe healthier) way for art to engage the community and for the community to encounter the transformative power of art.
The message Miller communicates is not focused on an individual or object, but rather in the space that is created between the individual and object. Miller’s images communicate a quality of a relationship. His art is about shaping community identity by crafting images of who we are and what we do.
- MEB & VPE
The message Miller communicates is not focused on an individual or object, but rather in the space that is created between the individual and object. Miller’s images communicate a quality of a relationship. His art is about shaping community identity by crafting images of who we are and what we do.
- MEB & VPE
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