“The future is here, it's just not widely distributed yet,” says William Gibson.
And yet, as an artist and according to Alan Kay, “The best way to protect the future is to invent it.”
When considering the life of Patrick Millard, an artist, curator and educator, but also explorer, Second Lifer and former Avenue for the Arts resident, I find myself at the intersection of these two quotes.
Millard hailed from the tiny Midwest town of Lamont. His world was much bigger once he began to harness his mind to the exploration of not only the physical world, but also the virtual world of the SIM land of Second Life.
Before he had a chance to really begin to fully investigate and report via art this joint exploration, he suddenly went silent. Millard passed away unexpectedly at the age of 30 on December 12, 2011.
On April 13 and as a part of the Art Downtown event, Millard will be the focus of a retrospective exhibition of his work that has been lovingly culled by fellow artists, curators and even his family. The works will be presented at Sanctuary Folk Art, a space where many believe Millard really was able to let loose his wild visions as he pursued his groundbreaking work.
“The first time he walked into the gallery, I really thought he was going to pitch that I should carry his work,” says Sanctuary owner Reb Roberts. “But in fact, this young student at Grand Valley State University was just looking for a place to converse.”
Sanctuary, over the years, has earned this reputation with good reason. I can attest that over the years, it has been nearly impossible not to bump into an artist or two hanging out in the space with the owners Reb and his wife Carmel Loftis. It is a place where outsider artist visions are displayed in a salon style, offering up a chaotic, yet refreshing stream of conscious experience in a gallery devoted to the excitement of discovery through artful exploration.
It is what must have attracted Millard who would not only go on to become a close friend of Roberts, but who would also eventually lead the artist to call this place his home as he moved onto the street.
“He was a total brainiac with a really good heart,” says Roberts, who echoes what many artists declared to me during my quest to know more about Millard.
My first encounter with him was at Gallery Noir, a short-lived space on Ionia where a reputation for solid work was evident even if sales were not. (This is common with work that is edgy or attempting to explore new ground.)
The large scale photographs such as “Evening Reboot, 2007” showcased a coming together of the natural world with the virtual as Millard envisioned a future not too far off -- a future where we begin to synthesize with technology. This is all around the time that a life’s worth of memory is held in the palm of our hands. 'How long it would take before we made the leap?' was the question overheard as people discussed his work openly in the small space.
What fascinated me was that the artist was so quiet and behind-the-scenes that I stumbled upon him by accident at this gallery as he observed people’s reactions to his work.
This work also proved problematic for some because it was hard to connect -- a problem that would face him as he explored this work, and one reason why I think he explored the virtual world with ease.
“I think there was a period where it was clear Patrick was spending more time in Second Life than real life,” says Avenue artist Tom Duimstra, who also plays guitar in Warp 51. Millard played keyboards in the band. “He found an escape and solace in this digital world. From this world, he found a new landscape from which to plug in the music he was creating with us as pulses turned into visual delights in the digital world. The visual stuff he would come up with as our keyboardist was cool.”
Millard would go on to secure his BFA from GVSU. He departed West Michigan the first time to attend Savannah College of Art and Design to pick up an MFA before returning to our area as a professor at GVSU. Then he was offered a professor of photography position at Point Park University in Pittsburgh.
The artist excelled in this field and the exploration of the blurring of the lines between the natural order and rising virtual. Millard continued to publish articles and post blog entries to greater audiences beyond his geographical boundaries. He expanded the exhibition of his work and also secured unique artist residencies such as Arizona’s Biosphere 2 in June 2010, where he could test out his theories.
“Millard, who benefited and flourished on the Avenue while a professor at GVSU, would find ways to give back to the next generation much like he had been the recipient of such mentoring,” says Roberts. “It is worth noting that Millard would bring students from his classes to our space and with our collaboration, host what for many of them would be their first showing of their work outside of the classroom setting. And he did this regardless of where you were on the education track, opening this up to freshman through seniors.”
It is fitting that for one night, the Sanctuary gallery, through the generosity of friends and family, will present a multi-media experience of this artist’s work on April 13.
“When I look at the work today, I really want to see what was coming next and I know it is not coming anymore. We have come to the end too suddenly and sadly. This is all there is,” says Roberts.
Roberts hinted that imagery he discovered on one of the many postcards that Millard created before his death indicated this retrospective might be missing some images that he and others have not been able to locate.
Maybe this final Millard series is something just for his mates in Second Life or some other world, and until they materialize, we can only wonder. Or maybe it is as we started here, we invent it.
In the meantime, we can view what is on display at the retrospective and find inspiration from Millard’s vision that is still resounding within so many still today. He just departed too early….so early.
To explore more of Millard’s work, visit his website:
patrickmillard.com
The Future Needs All of Us.
Tommy Allen, Lifestyle Editor
Email:
[email protected]
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Editor’s Featured Free Event: While a lot is happening on “The Avenue” on April 13, be sure to get out on Saturday, April 7 and check out a new premiere at Wealthy Theatre as the locally collaborative film project Burning Folk: A Road Movie, with Grand Rapids' actors and musicians, opens. The film tells the story of a cross-country voyage of three Michiganders in search of an elusive folk music festival in Arizona. It promises to be a wild ride indeed.
www.BurningFolk.com
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