Cody F. Miller is no stranger to drawing inspiration from the Holy Scriptures.
The Columbus-based artist was recently awarded an honorable mention in the international Engage Art Contest for his mixed-media work The Struggle. The piece is based on Ephesians 6:12, which was the theme of the 2019-2020 Engage Art Contest.
The contest is an international art competition that welcomes all skill levels of original visual art, performing arts, music and film. The juried contest was created by art appreciators and philanthropists Bill and Linda Bantz. Each year’s iteration of the contest is based on the spiritual battle described in Ephesians 6:12, as well as related verses.
Miller’s piece depicts three skeletons surrounding a woman on a boat all against a dark night sky. The focal point of the piece is a flame held in the hands of the woman on the boat. A lot of thought went into the process of creating this piece that, at first glance, may not be easily understood.
“Sometimes, the spiritual forces of darkness seem like a blitzkrieg of unbeatable giants,” Miller says on his website. “At times, they’ve overtaken me; they yawn at how easy it is. My prayers are elementary; I have a white-knuckled grip on the fact that maybe God will come and reason with me there. And I wait.”
Miller says The Struggle conveys a deep message about how systemic racism can be unconsciously ingrained into our minds.
“It’s talking about our struggles against something that’s even deeper, more insidious than what we see right in front of us,” he says. “So, when we think of systemic racism – its roots are so deep and I’ve read lots of history about it – there’s still stuff where it’s like, ‘Wow, Lord, there are so many things inside of me that I don’t see that I need you to reveal to me.’”
Miller derives most of his work from Scripture, often the Old Testament, but will draw inspiration from anything that conveys grace to him. This could range from a Radiohead song to a Dostoyevsky book, or anything someone else does that he thinks is unexpected in a painful or beautiful way.
As a resident artist at the Goodwill Art Studio and Gallery in Grandview Heights, Miller has had many years to study how people interact with his work.
“I would say, 99.9% of the time, that people come and they don’t know that it’s from the Scripture,” he says. “It’s steeped in metaphor and symbolism. And I want it first and foremost to speak … about a certain grace or something that speaks into their life in some way.”
Miller is now working on commissions for a licensing project, finishing some licensing contracts and creating new work for the Goodwill gallery. Though he doesn’t know when the next Engage Art Contest will take place, Miller says he would enter again.
Miller has also remained busy and dedicated to his craft even as the pandemic has put a halt to most art festivals and galleries.
Fortunately, he’s been able to work privately in order to license his art out to different places and continue to sell prints.
“The last year was my best year ever in terms of sales,” Miller says. “Kind of weird, but anyways, I’m thankful.”
Though the Goodwill studio has had to limit the number of artists inside as well as incorporate new health guidelines such as social distancing, Miller remains optimistic.
“We’re looking forward to when we can have all of our artists back, but at some level, we are operating as a gallery and I’m really excited and happy about that,” he says. “Beautiful, wonderful place.”
Helen Widman is an editorial assistant. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
