Cooper Union

James Miller

Adjunct Instructor

James Miller is a painter living in Brooklyn, NY. His painting practice draws heavily from the history of photographic and light-based media in both method and aesthetics—translating the rhetoric of an additive light process to a subtractive color medium. Miller captures traces of movement, light, and shadow with acrylic paint on canvas in a process parallel to cameraless photography.

Miller received his BFA from Laguna College of Art and Design in 2009, his MFA from Yale School of Art in 2014, and was a Dedalus Foundation Fellow in 2015. His paintings have been shown throughout the U.S. and Europe—including the solo exhibition “Sun Muzzle” at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery in NY, and in group exhibitions “The Dust” at The Centre Pompidou and “Painting As Is” at The Fosdick-Nelson Gallery.

James Miller. Lymbic Loop no.2, 2021. Acrylic and Alcohol on Canvas. 32” x 24” — James Miller. *Lymbic Loop no.2, 2021*. Acrylic and Alcohol on Canvas. 32” x 24”

Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.
“My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”
From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.
Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.