Bruce Miller: Outdoorsman with a Paintbrush

Photo: Annie Kuster

Inside the home studio of award-winning nature artist Bruce Miller.

Since receiving his first set of acrylic paint in seventh grade, Bruce Miller has gone on to turn his artwork into $10 million for national conservation organizations.

That amount takes into account Miller’s win as the artist of the 1993 Federal Duck Stamp, which is part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s program for raising funds to protect wetland habitats. “It was a life-changing event,” says Miller, noting that the money that came with the win reassured him that the 9 years he had already spent as a full-time artist were worth it.

On a recent Friday morning, when many people were humming away at a desk job, Miller was busy in his studio. The mission at hand: painting a white-tail deer, which had some technical aspects that Miller wanted to make just right.

“A painting is like a lot of things in life: Sometimes it goes easy, and sometimes you have to really work at it,” says Miller. As for the white-tail deer, he says, “This one is putting up a bit of a fight.”

The painting was a part of a print package that Miller was sending to the National Wild Turkey Federation, a national non-profit conservation and hunting organization. It chooses artwork from a number of artists to use in manufactured products (think print images, cards, etc.), which are sold to contribute to conservation efforts.

Over the years, Miller’s work has been chosen for 23 conservation stamps for groups like Ducks Unlimited and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Even with a handful of “Artist of the Year” titles won since 1988, Miller makes time to visit and teach art classes at West Tonka High School and Grandview Middle School in Mound, where his kids Macie and Matt attend respectively. But it’s never embarrassing situation to see dad in the halls.

With a smile in his voice, Miller says, “They’re actually kind of proud of me.”

And they’re not the only ones. The Bruce Miller Wildlife Preserve on the corner of Bartlett and Westedge boulevards in Mound was named in his honor by Westonka Public Schools. Then again, the 58-year-old’s parents were always been behind him, too. Miller says that from an early age, when his mom patted him on his head for drawing “the best stick figures,” to when he resigned as the owner and closed his construction business to pursue art full-time in 1985, “They were very supportive of me the entire time.”

When Miller was 18, his parents even let him, his twin brother Brad and a friend travel around Europe for 10 months. Miller’s interest in art was nurtured then, and he says some of the most memorable times were when he visited the Prado Museum in Madrid and the Louvre in Paris; he cites impressionism as having a big impact on him.

For what he does today, Miller’s work ties in with his lifestyle of going fishing and hunting ducks. As a self-proclaimed avid outdoorsman, he also takes his camera with him wherever he goes, whether he’s cruising around Enchanted Island on Lake Minnetonka or visiting a deer farm in Howard Lake.

Often, it’s one of those photographs that becomes the inspiration for a new painting. Miller says, “Many times, I’ll start with a photo I’ve taken and combine that with other photos I’ve taken to create an interesting composition.” But, he adds, he doesn’t want his paintings to look like a photograph, referring back to his impressionistic influences.

For example, of his white-tail deer painting, Miller explains how the deer’s head is very detailed, but the body is less. And the grass around the deer is where he gives himself “free reign.” He calls it manipulating the eye to focus on the deer’s face. Miller teaches tips like this at his annual fall workshop, which is held at his home studio.

If you can’t wait until then, see what Miller presents at this year’s Lake Minnetonka Arts Tour from April 30–May 1. The tour runs from 10 a.m.–6 p.m. on Saturday, and until 5 p.m. on Sunday.

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