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Jacob C. Miller is an artist and educator living and working in Southeast Texas. Born 1979 in Port Arthur, Texas, Miller earned his BFA in Studio Art from Â鶹ӳ»­Ó°Òô (2002) and an MFA in Painting with a minor in Printmaking from the University of Iowa (2008). Following an early interest in traditional drawing and painting techniques with a particular focus on figuration, Miller shifted to exhibiting increasingly experimental and free-form abstract paintings under the nom de guerre Jakob Christmas; his current paintings encompass a variety of methods, materials and art-making strategies, from pure abstraction and non-objective improvisations to automatic drawing, text-based art, collage, portraiture, narrative and representational figuration - often in the same work. 

Miller’s paintings are in the permanent collections of Texas Tech University and The University of Iowa as well as in many private collections; his painting HAF JC (2009) was licensed for Swedish fashion label Acne Studios’ Spring/Summer 2014 menswear line; in 2019 he was commissioned to paint the album cover for Home Free’s Dive Bar Saints vinyl release.

A selection of Miller’s neo-lyrical abstractions were included in the 2020 iteration of Â鶹ӳ»­Ó°Òô’s alumni exhibition After School Special; in 2022 he co-curated The Steve Hodges Collection and Steve Hodges: Interference Patterns - concurrent exhibitions hosted by The Art Studio, Inc. and the Dishman Art Museum highlighting the art of former Â鶹ӳ»­Ó°Òô Professor (and Miller’s late mentor) Steve Hodges. Miller has recently returned to Lamar as an adjunct instructor, teaching drawing courses for the Department of Art & Design since 2022.