Artist Paton Miller in his Southampton studio. (Eileen Casey)

Continuing with our artist profiles of artists both living and working in the Hamptons, our next artist is Paton Miller, who lives in Southampton.

Southampton - Artist Paton Miller was born in Seattle and raised in Hawaii. His father was a pilot, and his mother was a chemist. His only sibling, an older brother, passed away last year, and Miller fondly recalled "He was the brains in the family. I was artistic but he could build anything - when he needed a barn for his horses he just built it. If something was wrong with the car he'd just take the engine out and fix it."

Miller attended the Honolulu Academy of Art, and after an extensive time traveling the world, he found his way to Southampton in his early 20s, and received his B.F.A. at Southampton College. He and his wife have lived in Southampton for many years, and have two sons, Sam, 18, and Christian, 10. Miller's claims his response to 'how are you?' is always "I have two great kids who are healthy, and a wife who still loves me!" He and his family have spent a number of summers in Bali, and have a farm in the Costa Rican countryside.

Miller's work is in the collections of the American Embassy in Abu Dhabi; the American Embassy in Bogota, Colombia; Heckscher Museum in Huntington, NY; Guild Hall in East Hampton; NY; The Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, NY; and William and Mary College in Virginia. He is represented on the East End by The Pamela Williams Gallery in East Hampton.

"Baiting Corp." 2010, oil on canvas, 28" x 34"

When did you start making art and what medium(s) do you consider to be your roots in art?

Paton Miller: I started when I was pretty young. I was sort of known as the artist in the family. My father was a pilot and my mother was a scientist - a chemist - and her whole family were scientists, so I was the guy who was always drawing, and I lampooned the family with caricatures, and that was the beginning. I was very influenced by cartoons. I grew with the Warner Bros. cartoons, and Bugs Bunny, and became interested in their earlier cartoons like Krazy Kat. When I was a kid The Katzenjammer Kids was popular, so I was always interested in cartoonists, although I never did that in a professional capacity, it's not surprising that later on I became really interested in Daumier, Goya, and Hobart.

"Tuba" 2009, mixed media, 60" x 58"

What is it about the Hamptons that brought you here and enticed you to stay, work, and pursue your art here as opposed to some place else?

PM: Well, I never knew or heard of The Hamptons. I was raised in Hawaii, and while living with my parents I was planning a trip that was going to take me from Hawaii and travel west through Asia and Europe. This was to be an around the world trip, and a family friend who was staying with my parents, Ellen Offutt, looked at my itinerary and she saw at one point that I'd be landing at JFK. She said 'When you land in JFK come out to my house' in this place called Southampton. I'd never heard of it - I'd heard of Long Island, and I thought it was about 25 or 30 miles long! In any event, I did finally end up at JFK and in New York for the first time, so in the Fall of 1974, I'm at JFK and had to make a decision whether or not I would come out here or just head back to Hawaii. I was 21, and as I mentioned, my father was a pilot so I had passes which I had to use before my next birthday. I remember talking to a few pilots and I was surprised to learn that Southampton was so far away - over two hours from the City - but I decided to come out and see Ellen anyway.

"Doghouse 2010, oil on paper, 9" x 12"

However, when I arrived she greeted me with 'I'm so glad you are here, but I now have to leave for a business trip in a few days, can you stay and take care of my Chihuahua dogs?' Now, I knew these dogs as she always traveled with them and had them at my parents home. I love dogs but these two would bite your ankles, but I said yes and she got me a job with her neighbor who was a pretty well known decorator named Charles Dear. So here I am - all of a sudden I had a place to stay for a few months, I had a job and she gave me the keys to her car and said 'Go check out Southampton College,' well to make a long story short - I ended up receiving a scholarship - and that is how I ended up staying here, but I had never heard of the place. I had studied at the Honolulu Academy of Arts before this year long trip through Asia, and so during the whole trip I was drawing, and when I arrived here I had all these great drawings. I did go over to the college and met Don Kurka, who at that time was the Head of the Fine Arts program. He heard my story, looked at my drawings, and asked me if I wanted to go to college? I told him I had about $40 to my name and he said 'You should compete for a scholarship that is coming up.' So when that opportunity came around I went back - now I had my drawings from Nepal, Iran, India - and I got the scholarship. Bob Mumford, God bless his soul, was a real force at the college, and I heard later that he really went to bat for me. I must say that Southampton has always been my good luck town. I have had nothing my good luck here.

"Atlas" 2010, oil on paper, 9" x 12"

In fact, the very first morning I woke up in Ellen Offutt's house the guy who was cutting her grass (David Nadal) offered to show me the town, but first he had to go pick up a check from a client - it was like the hand of God - he takes me down to 37 South Main Street, and introduces me to Jane Doscher, who was an artist, and her sister Dr. Mary Johnson. It was an amazing house, and that neighborhood is where I ended up for the next 25 years. Dr. Mary Johnson, who has delivered half the population of Southampton - she has since passed away but she was the country doctor of the area, and that cottage is in a lot of Fairfield Porter's paintings. He had passed away about a year before, and I saw that the studio was empty. I eventually went over to the main house, knocked on the door and his wife Anne answered, and I said I was from the next door and was wondering if I could rent the studio. She said yes, but I had to wait a year because someone was using it but they were leaving, so I eventually got it and was in that studio for about 24 years, in fact, it was the first real studio I had. The studio we are in now was designed based on that studio with the big doors that open up in the springtime. Like I said, it has been one good piece of luck after another, having come here after a year in Asia with $40 in my pocket I have always been able to make a living here.

"National" 2010, oil on canvas, 28" x 34"

How do you support yourself as an artist?

PM: When I first arrived I went to college and did get that job with Ellen's neighbor, Charles Deere, and he was a decorator with a very wealthy clientele. Right when college ended he retired, and all his clients would ask me to paint their houses and they say 'give it three coats.' We are talking about just huge houses, so I hired all my friends, surfing buddies, art buddies, and we all got together and formed a company called Rocket 88, and for years we painted houses. Then it evolved into a construction business. I did return to Hawaii for three years, and then came back to Southampton in 1993 (my first son was born in Hawaii) and flat broke - we were living in Molokai for three years - so I started up the business again to get the things I needed because now I had a son and I had never owned a house before, but it was time to get responsible, and I did the construction business up to about 2004. Now I have been able to support myself and my family as an artist. You know, as a kid I had lots of different jobs - I was a dynamiter, drove a dump truck, and I've always enjoyed work - and now that I work in my studio full time, I still work very hard, but the camaraderie of working on a crew, and I'd always worked with great people - we had a good time doing it - we made money and laughed all day long.

"Self-Portrait" 2007, oil on canvas, 48" x 48"

What local environmental or historical aspects of the Hamptons do you relate to that may be reflected in your medium?

PM: Well, if you live in the United States and want to be around history it is good to be around here. I was just out in San Diego with my son, who will be going to school in California. I do love the ocean out there but the whole place looks like a mall. When I first came here I was really fascinated with the history of the place, the house, and the barn (Fairfield Porter studio) I used was built in 1820. In fact, the house that Jane Doscher lived in still had the old numbers on it, it was a stop over for stage coaches. I'd never really been around that kind of history before. I was born in Seattle and raised in Hawaii, and they have histories too, of course, but out here you just feel it more - it's more apparent. The other aspect of history that makes it important to be here is the artistic legacy. If you are living in a place that doesn't have a strong artistic legacy - you feel like you are alone. It's really helpful for artists to be around other artists and to be in a community where your work is appreciated. I have lived in places before where I was considered an oddball. For example, we lived in Molokai from 1990 to 1993, and my work is definitely not dolphins jumping over rainbows, which is something you might see in Maui where the art is very commercial and tourist driven. I hated this even as a kid - in the hotels in Waikiki. I think artists migrate to places like New York and Chicago because they do not want to be alone in the wilderness. They want to have artistic friends who are colleagues, and you want to be in a community that not only appreciates your work, but maybe will also help to support you.

"Rowing and Talking" 2008, oil on panel, 33" x 48"

What artists do you feel have influenced you and your work?

PM: Daumier has been a very important influence for me, and at different times there are different artists. I think when you are a younger artist in your 20s, that is a crucial time when are really influenced, and then for better or worse, you are yourself with our own strengths and weaknesses. You come out of that swirl of influences and you are, finally, who you are, but over the years, certainly Goya. When I went to the Met I found a room I have never seen before. I was in the American section where they had Thomas Cole and these huge Hudson River School paintings which I find fascinating, and right next to it was this Lousi XIV kind of room with crushed velvet on the walls and there were some of the best and very famous El Greco's. You know if you opened a book and asked me where these paintings were I would have sworn at the Prado because they are such important El Greco's. For me it's not about 20th century art, it's more about being thankful that we have the capacity to view all of these different artists, However, for me it's really been about being strongly influenced by the Spanish School. When I went to the Prado I felt like I should break my brushes when I left. The collection there is so focused and it is such a great museum. When I look at Goya and Velasquez I think I wish I could do that, and that is always a good position to be in. I appreciate Basquiat and Schnabel - but those others are the greats - they are the Olympians.

"Bird on a Wire" 2009, oil on paper, 22" x 30"

What advice would you give an emerging artist?

PM: I would say that it's good to get the basic training of drawing. There are no shortcuts - you have to do it and have those 'chops.' Start off with academic training and the fundamentals. I can't think of any artists who have been successful who haven't had that, although there are exceptions. I think maybe Basquiat was an exception, and I love his work, but I think for the most part it is good to have those chops, and I teach drawing. I teach privately here in my studio, and I teach the same lessons I learned at the Academy except I teach it to eight year olds. Kids just have to be exposed to it because at that age what they mostly get in school is Arts and Crafts. Beyond the education aspect of it, I would strongly recommend go find spaces and not wait for galleries to tap on your door, but go make it happen on your own. Create a buzz and get together with other artists who you feel your work relates with in some way and make it happen. You have to bang the drum loudly, otherwise, if you are quiet and sincere in your studio no one is going to know you are there. You have to be very proactive. In fact, I think they should teach business in art school, because everything is business, and artists are too reluctant to conduct their own affairs, and I think if you don't conduct your own affairs probably no one will. Even for an artist my age you have to be proactive and you'd better learn to balance a checkbook, and don't ever think that just because you are an artist you don't have to do it - because no one else will - unless you marry someone who will do it for you! As far as the energy thrust of getting your work out there you can not wait for the official art world to tap you on the shoulder. You have to make it happen. I have had older students in here who are good artists and they have been very discouraged by the art world - it's almost like the record world - the labels only come to you after you have developed a following. Art is a business and some art schools are churning out students who do not have a clue. I recently taught a class and afterward I felt that I had either bored or depressed the students. When I had an opportunity to ask one of the students she said 'You depressed me. I thought I'd be a successful, professional artist in five years.' The time it takes and the chances you have to take works for me - there are no guarantees but there are no guarantees in the rest of the world either - so we are all together.

"Australian Summer" 2007, oil on canvas, 78" x 104"

What gives you an edge (if any)?

PM: My edge comes from the fact that I work as hard as I have ever worked, and the reason for that is I find when I am not occupied my mind is useless. I've heard there is a writing disorder where people simply have to write a lot - I've heard Dostoyevsky had this, so I think the compulsion to make art is just in me, and when I don't make it - if I'm traveling or something - I start getting edgy, so maybe the question should be 'what de-edges me?' Because my work is mostly thematic work which means I usually have some sort of axe to grind, and when I don't have an axe to grind I go out and do landscapes, and then I'm challenged by the fact that there is this whole world out there and I'm trying to capture it, and it's exciting to me and gives me a chance to see if I can do it. I think it's the challenge of making something from nothing and trying to make it work - it's like puzzle solving.

What are you working on now, and are you involved in any upcoming shows or exhibitions?

PM: No, I just had a show this past November which was wonderful, and my exhibition schedule for this upcoming summer has yet to be announced. Right now I'm making the work, and working solves all those things. However, I am assisting with the Have A Heart/Paul Koster event to be held on March 20 at Four Seasons Caterers. Paul was a good friend who died in a tractor accident about eight years ago and Jean Mackenzie, his widow, started this Foundation in his name to assist the youth of Southampton. Our two families are very close, and Cutter, their son, (they also have two daughters), is Christian, our youngest son's godfather. I am on the board and assist in any way that I can.

To view more of Paton Miller's work go to www.patonmiller.com, or www.pamelawilliamsgallery.com.