Summerhill 360

Over five days in Spring 2013, Nick Miller, who works from his studio in Drumcliffe, Co.Sligo, erected a small tower on the roof of the new Summerhill College building in Sligo. From this look-out post, he took a series of thousands of panoramic photos of the surrounding landscape and also made a series of delicate watercolour sketches of the many views visible from the highest point of the new school building.

The resulting paintings comprise a large triptych measuring 1.24 m x 16.12 m painted in oil on aluminium composite.

Summerhill 360 is a monumental vista of the landscape, both rural and urban, of rolling fields, housing estates, roads and very old and possibly overlooked and very new landmark buildings. The vast panel captures the sometimes brooding, always lyrical, beauty characteristic of Sligo and its environs.

Within the individual paintings, Nick has worked incredibly accurate details of place in this moment in time, which should ensure that the students will recognise their own personal landmarks, and will be able to relate to the painting as something that has unique personal significance to themselves growing up in Sligo.

Two original artworks, one by Nick Miller and one by Martha Quinn, were commissioned and recently installed for the new school building for the long established boys' secondary school, Summerhill College in Sligo. Commissioned under the Department of Education and Skills Per Cent for Art Scheme.

After a lengthy period of consultation with the Board of Management and teaching staff, local research, and a series of rigorous selection processes with inputs from teachers, the Board of Management, the college architect and the boys themselves, Nick Miller and Martha Quinn were appointed to make two major artworks specifically for the students, staff and the wider school community.

Both works are in the Foyer/General Purpose area of the large new school building and are highly visible to everyone using and working in the building.

Born in London, 1962 Nick attended the University of East Anglia, graduating in Development Studies in 1984. Miller moved to Ireland in 1984. He is a member of Aosdána since 2001, and he lives and works in Co Sligo.

Recent solo exhibitions include:

"YARD" Rubicon Gallery Dublin (2012); "Painting Patrick: after Olympia & Venus" The Heritage Council, Kilkenny Arts Festival; "Tree House 360?"Concord Art Association (2011) Concord, MA, USA. Curated by OH Projects, Boston;"Tree House 360?" Rubicon Gallery Dublin (2010)"Truckscapes - Paintings from a mobile studio" New York Studio School, New York (2008) "Truckscapes- Drawings from a Mobile Studio" Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris (2007), Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick (2008), Rubicon Gallery, Dublin (2008); "Standing Sitting Lying: Watercolours" Rubicon Gallery, Dublin (2006); "Genre", The Butler Gallery (2004), The Castle, Kilkenny ; "Figure to Ground", Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (2003).

Collections include:

Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin City Council The Hugh Lane, Irish Life PLC, RTE, The Arts Council (Ireland), European Investment Bank (Luxembourg), Independent Newspapers (Ireland), The National Drawing Collection (Limerick Municipal Collection), The Niland Collection (Sligo), Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Boyle Civic Collection, Fujian Teachers College (China), Dublin Institute of Technology, Allied Irish Bank, Irish Permanent, Bank of Ireland, Anglo Irish Bank, Ulster Bank. Fundacion Privada Sorigue, Lleida Spain.

For more visit:
nickmiller.ie