The Jewelry of John Paul Miller

At once an artist, teacher, and craftsman, John Paul Miller personifies a lifetime of creative expression. The Cleveland Museum of Art celebrates this living legend and master goldsmith in an exhibition installation of more than 50 of his incredible works, including sketchbooks and drawings, spanning nearly 60 years of his illustrious career. His two greatest passions—music and art—seemingly converge in work that moves from poetic forms to intensely intricate compositions. His earliest creations are lyrically simple, biomorphic forms characteristic of the modern era. Miller's fascination with technique and process emerged in his groundbreaking rediscovery in the early 1950s of granulation, an ancient, yet forgotten, way of fusing tiny gold beads to a gold surface without solder. The fleeting creatures of earth, sea, and sky—snails, squids, crabs, moths, and flies—became his muse, inspiring a complicated palette of seductive enamels and textured forms. Historical reference and modern abstraction also infuse his designs, bringing together that which he saw and that which he imagined to form a body of work full of curiosity and self-expression. Opens June 15, 2010, in the Betty and Max Ratner Gallery on the second floor of the east wing.