Wednesday, January 29, 2014

One Artist, Two Venues


Redding’s Cultural Cruise 2014 is coming up this Friday, and multi-talented artist Will Miller will be wearing two hats -- doing his best to be at two places at once.



Will Miller, the singer-songwriter, will be playing a half-hour set of original music at Redding City Hall at 4:30 as part of the North State Songwriters Showcase. Then he’ll high-tail it across town to the Carter House, where his painting, Paradise, is up for a prize in the North Valley Art League Annual National Juried Show.



I asked Will about the challenges of being both a songwriter and a visual artist.

“My passion for creativity is a driving force, and when engaged is an unstoppable flow that just spills all over the place (sometimes hard to contain and always a mess)…..Painting and songwriting both have different disciplines, rules, and skills to hone.  


On the songwriter side of the house, when flows of emotional things happen in my life I write down notes to remind my self of how I felt, or a funny thing that happened, then later when I hear music pieces that touch my soul, then I search thru my notes and write my songs using the notes as reference…
In painting, it is a discipline of color and light matching, a drill that encompasses every brush stroke… I study my compositions and relive every inch as I paint.
        
Whatever skill sets I have acquired with songwriting and painting I owe all to my intense focus, self-discipline, love of seeing smiles and passion for creating things.
”

What are you looking forward to at this year’s Cultural Cruise?

“Smiles and a little toe tapping… to bring a thought of joy or happiness with my creations, whether musical or artistic to the world is what floats my boat…  of course winning best of show at the league show would definitely make my year.”

In addition to being an artist, Will is a veteran, father of five and grandfather to nine. He’s  currently college art student,  Cottonwood resident and fine arts advocate.

The Cultural Cruise is a city-wide event for the whole family -- the map of venues is here:




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