Jes Miller Studio

10/11/2026

Over two days, my family and I brought the Cherry Blossom installation to life in the alley between the fire station and Grover Center. My dad and Ru made many trips up and down the 35-foot lift, stringing and securing the blossoms, while my mom and I prepared each assembly, staged the materials, and coordinated the hanging heights and spacing. It was a true family effort, and everything came together beautifully.

This project was led and made possible by the Blue River Community Foundation and its generous donors. Thank you to John Walker for capturing the installation, and to the Addison Times for sharing the photos.

https://addisontimes.substack.com/p/sunday-october-11-2026

10/08/2026

160 objects embodying the essence of an artist.

If you were asked to create an object that embodied the essence of your favorite artist, not something that looked like their work, but something that felt like it, how would you do it?

It’s been really cool watching my students wrestle with that question and come up with 160 completely different answers.

Over the last few weeks, they’ve started taking what they discovered through these objects… material, rhythm, repetition, tension, light, movement, enclosure… and translating those ideas toward architecture.

The artists behind the work:
Louise Bourgeois · James Turrell · Rei Kawakubo · Pharrell Williams · Nine Inch Nails · Avicii · Roberto Matta · Fiona Apple · Misty Copeland · Iris van Herpen · AJR · Brian Eno · Joan Miró · underscores · Nicolai Bergmann · Georgia O’Keeffe

I love seeing all of these little experiments together. Each one is such a different answer to the same question.

09/29/2026

https://www.hiddenbrain.org/podcast/what-art-does-for-your-brain/

Think about the last time a piece of music stopped you in your tracks, or a novel kept you up late at night. Why do these experiences feel so powerful?

09/26/2026

I find myself returning again and again to the craftwork I grew up around; my mom’s stained glass and my dad’s woodworking. For the cherry blossoms, I wanted to bring both of those traditions together in a new way.

We looked at stained-glass flowers as inspiration for the shape and pattern of the blossoms. The finished flowers were custom-designed in collaboration with Thunderbird Molding here in Shelbyville, who fabricated them from polycarbonate with UV printing that gives them a stained-glass quality.

At the center of every flower are circles of thermally modified ash, all made in my dad’s workshop. My dad and Ru had a hand in making every one of the 140 wood circles. I’m so grateful for the hours they’ve spent helping me bring this idea to life.

Altogether, the installation includes 50 flower pieces, 40 brass elements, and 150 clamps supporting everything along braided steel cable.

There have been so many people involved in figuring out how to actually make this idea work. Ignition Arts in Indianapolis has been an incredible collaborator on the design and custom assembly, and Rbhu in California helped with the engineering.

A special thank you to Blue River Community Foundation for giving me the opportunity to create this piece, and to Michael Runge, who designed the Mount Fuji installation for Japanese Alley. I’m so excited that these pieces will come together to celebrate Shelbyville’s friendship with our sister city, Shizuoka, Japan.

With installation day drawing near, we’re finally getting close to seeing the cherry blossoms in their home.

02/24/2026

19 days left 🌸

The Cherry Blossom installation will be Jes Miller Studio’s first public art project, and it marks an important step in the evolution of my work from canvas into community space.

This piece celebrates Shelbyville’s Sister City relationship with Japan, established in 1985. It is about connection, history, and creating a moment of beauty that belongs to everyone who walks through it.

If you would like to support this project or follow its progress, you can learn more here:
http://patronicity.com/japanesealley

Thank you for being part of this growing body of work.

The alley between the Grover Center and Shelbyville City Fire Station 1 will be transformed to honor the connection between Shelbyville, IN and Shizuoka, Japan.

02/10/2026

Painting Zeus 🖤

This timelapse captures a study I made as a gift for a friend, and as practice for my Paint Your Pet class with Shelbyville Parks & Rec. I really enjoy the process of painting animals and watching their personality come through.

01/31/2026

Second-year architecture studio, Project 01: Pavilion on the Quad.

This was a quick two-week project designed as a listening and seeing exercise. Students began by observing spatial, social, and environmental relationships on the quad before making anything. Each student selected a material that could capture their observation and allowed form to emerge through that material logic.

Every model represents a specific relationship on the site. I’m proud of how fully they trusted the process and let observation lead design. Some really special spaces emerged by slowing down and listening first.

01/31/2026

01/27/2026

🎨🎶 Calling all artists, creatives, musicians & performers! 🌟

Join us for the Accelerate Rural Indiana: Creative Communities Workshop on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, from 5:30–8:00 PM at the Wortman Family Civic Theatre - an opportunity to explore how arts and culture can strengthen community development across the ARI region and beyond.

Whether you paint, play, perform, design, or create in any form, your voice and vision matter in shaping the future of our region’s cultural landscape. Come connect, collaborate, and imagine what’s possible when creative hearts come together.

📍 Details & registration: https://events.iu.edu/rural/event/2183698-accelerate-rural-indiana-creative-communities-worksh

Let’s cultivate vibrant rural places through creativity and community - see you there! 🙌

Explore how arts and culture can strengthen community development across the ARI region and beyond.

01/27/2026

So excited to share that three of my paintings are now on display at Hotel Indigo in Columbus, on their newly refreshed gallery wall in the dining area.

It feels really special to see work from my Rooted in Tomorrow series living in such a beautiful, thoughtfully redesigned space.

They will be up for the next few months, and a reception is coming soon.

If you find yourself there for dinner or a drink, take a moment to wander over and say hello to the forest.

All three works are available for purchase.