Scripture

Pictures predate writing and writing actually comes from pictures. How about when writing becomes the picture itself? We’re talking way beyond your wedding invitations here.

From Nordic runes to Roman script, Miller moves the nib toward entire pictures, where letters, numbers and symbols become the basis or counterpoint to a landscape.

Historically, lettering has been embroidered into manuscripts by various groups, scribes and printers alike. Think of medieval illuminated manuscripts in the European Christian traditions. Jewish traditional wedding contracts (ketubot) come in decorative shapes adorned with fancy colorful lettering and sometimes pictures.

Then extend your thoughts toward Islamic calligraphy, where flowing Arabic script adorns entire walls, even carved into them. Nordic runes carved in stone — which Miller loves to use to teach her style — wrap themselves around pictures of long ships. Asian poetry scrolls are often accompanied by brush paintings, and sometimes vice versa (A few large sumi-e brushes hang on her studio walls).

Even today illustrated books in print often begin chapters with illuminated first letter capitals. This goes back to the dawn of written language; picture (literally) Egyptian tomb walls with paintings mixed in with pictographic hieroglyphics.

What Miller does crosses all those traditions. Yet, lately, she’s moving back to more realistic painting styles. She has no desire to be bored and her work is anything but boring.

“Dancer at Rest” is a complex piece. You first see the realistic figure, then a window to a landscape comes into view. As your eye backs outward the boxy tartan abstract background reveals the contours of a room in perspective. This painting should hang in the de Young Museum.

“Penthouse Sweet” is a play on words and a visual play that’s architectural in design. The lines and values lead the eye. From one view, it appears a room interior, but from another an urban building nightscape, all the while reading as both abstraction and realism.

You will still find her runic paintings, multicolor alphabets spelling messages from Norse history. Or “Sage,” a stylized pen sketch of the herb with its name scribbled in mimicry of the leaves.

Her studio is filled with varied style and size paintings, including her best known runes and calligraphic “letterfield” works, a term she coined.

She even prints her paintings on silk as wearable art.

The big surprise is just how wide ranging her creativity goes. She taught bas-relief and sculpture, and has a long history as an instructor at regional colleges. As a musician she’s attuned to rhythm, which she uses and teaches in her painting, translating it from drumming and dance into visible form.

She laughingly recalls her start in art at about age 2, when she painted her body with her mother’s lipstick. Mother was not amused.

Miller’s artwork adorns corporate spaces, and locally she painted the murals on the walls of the Belmont Library too.

She even writes a regular column on Substack, “Getting Inky.”

“I’m just an artist,” she said. “I don’t care what I make it with!”

Miller opens her studio in San Mateo and her story by appointment if you want to see her work live and have a good chat to boot.

You Can Create Too: Miller teaches calligraphy as both script and art form for Stanford Continuing Studies. For information: pennib.com/teaching. Atherton Arts Foundation is holding a “Pointed Pen Calligraphy” lesson, Feb. 8 from 1:30-3:30 p.m., RSVP: Vivian Pham at hello@byvivan.com.

Ann Miller Calligraphy, 1220 N. Idaho St., San Mateo, pennib.com, (650) 558-8270.

Bart Charlow, author and consultant, has been sketching all his life and painting for over 45 years, had a professional photography business, and leads plein air painting groups. Come along as he shares his insights about the local art scene, and bring your sketchbook. His art and story are at: bartsart.weebly.com.