Contemporary Artists, Photographers, and Designers

Edgar Miller’s influence on the professions in the arts, in graphic design and beyond can still be felt today.  We are honored to be showing the art, design, and photography of a few of our most creatively prolific community members, Hannah Dykstra, Sharon, Bladholm, and Alexander Vertikoff.  Each of these artists were asked to participate in The Timeless Modern exhibition because their careers’ work has been inspired by or has elevated Miller’s own art. 

Prints from this exhibition may be purchased as part of a special limited series collection. Half of all proceeds go towards supporting Edgar Miller Legacy and its mission. Please email info@edgarmiller.org with inquiries on purchasing, or find links to purchasing sites below.

The Exhibitors

Edgar Miller Legacy has had the pleasure of working with artist and graphic novelist Hannah Dykstra over the past several years in a number of ways. As an art instructor and program manager with Art on Sedgwick, Dykstra spearheaded art classes focusing on Edgar Miller's early modern design style and painting techniques. She also has led youth programs, design workshops, and a variety of art projects for Art on Sedgwick, Edgar Miller Legacy, and After School Matters, for beginner and expert artists alike.

Dykstra's wide range of skills cross over many mediums, and one of her talents has been finding ways to translate Edgar Miller's work from its core elements to create an art piece that can also be an educational project. She explains: "One of the guiding phrases in my graphic novel work is comix/context - using narrative art to draw attention to overlooked stories and histories. Often these histories still affect us, but that context is so easily forgotten - especially in the fast-paced world of information we live in. Telling these stories visually is both arresting and useful - a tribute and a means for better understanding."

For The Timeless Modern exhibition, Dykstra is exploring her skills in digital illustration and graphic design to tell the story of Edgar Miller and the Glasner Studio as part of a larger graphic novel project to be published in the coming year. In the prints in the exhibition, which can be explored below, Dykstra highlights some of the most salient moments in the Glasner Studio’s story, from its conception to its time as a home for a larger community. Click on the images below to view in detail and learn more about each piece.

Dykstra’s project is partially supported by a grant to Art on Sedgwick from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

Sharon Bladholm is one of the most accomplished and talented artists in our community. Following in the same vein as Edgar Miller, Bladholm has taken up the mantle as one of Chicago's true Renaissance women, specializing in stained glass, sculptural art, ceramics, printmaking, and much more. Bladholm is unique as one of Chicago's few working artists to have met Edgar Miller before he died, and who got to ask the artist questions about his life and work in person. She continues to teach us a great deal about combining artistic media and celebrating the inherent art of nature.

Bladholm's work has been profoundly influenced by her participation as artist, on scientific expeditions to remote and biologically diverse ecosystems of the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon on expeditions with the Field Museum, Conservation International and Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program. She has long explored the interfaces of art, science, conservation and nature in numerous series of artworks in diverse mediums including glass, bronze and ceramic, as well as works on paper. Concurrently she has run Opal Glass Studios since 1983 and continues to complete many important commissions and show her art work in numerous galleries and museums.  Bladholm often teaches workshops and present talks with a number of schools and institutions in Chicago and beyond, including with Edgar Miller Legacy.

Her work for The Timeless Modern exhibition hones in on some of her mixed media print work, stained glass, and individual pieces that hold a connection to her memory and times with Edgar Miller. Her prints in particular draw from Miller’s talent to utilize leftover materials—such as the antique ledger paper in many of her pieces—and to transform graphic design templates to create pieces greatly inspired by the natural beauty found in nature. Much like what is seen within Miller’s work, Bladholm’s inspirations continue to be found in the living world around us. Click on the images below to view in detail and learn more about each piece.

Alexander Vertikoff is most well-known by our community for his incredible contribution to documenting Edgar Miller’s art, architecture, and design in the monograph Edgar Miller & The Handmade Home: Chicago’s Forgotten Renaissance Man by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams. The book, published in 2009 by CityFile Press, includes hundreds of individual photographs of Miller’s work. Vertikoff helped make the expansive volume an indispensable asset in the raising of awareness and in the investigation into the life of Edgar Miller, in large part due to the detailed, exquisite, and unforgettable images he captured over the course of six months.

Vertikoff shares about his time on the book project: “What was really amazing and striking is the depth of detail in all Miller’s work, down to the tiniest marks in wooden rails and painted textures on the stained glass. One really has to get into the details to appreciate the work. Edgar immediately came across as an independent thinker, his craft and art show that. What I love is that he used whatever he could get his hands on, bits and pieces from just about anywhere.” Even for a casual viewer, Vertikoff’s ability to capture the natural light, allows us to glimpse into the mind of the artist and shares an understanding of Miller’s intentions of space, volume, time, and material. Vertikoff is one of those unique photographers who is able to highlight the true artistry of a built environment.

The Timeless Modern exhibition showcases just a few of the photos Vertikoff captured for the book, here realized in amazing closeup and detail, each picture showcasing a different aspect of Miller’s versatility and talent. Each of these prints can be purchased as part of a limited edition series at the Edgar Miller Legacy shop here. Click on the images below to view in detail and learn more about each piece.