Gastronomy, defined as the study of the relationship between food and culture, could also describe the new exhibition at the Vero Beach Museum of Art, Roadside Reverie: Glass Works by John Miller. The engaging exhibit of 40 large-scale glass sculptures, on display through Jan. 5, evoke the era of drive-ins and diners with colorful Pop Art foodstuffs and assorted automotive elements.
A culinary landscape of foods from Miller’s Hot Stuff and Blue Plate Special series are staged with a roadside diner vibe. On the automotive side, his 1954 Ford Mainline V-ATE installation takes center stage, while glass keyrings and fobs from his Do Not Duplicate series greet viewers at the entrance. Additionally, stylized glass hood ornaments from his Classic Heat series are shown, on loan from the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Wash.
The exhibit is the first one organized at the VBMA by chief curator Caitlin Swindell. She had previously arranged an exhibit of Miller’s work at the University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum and thought it would be a good fit for this community as well.
“His work is just so much fun and very accessible, and the process is just wild,” says Swindell.
“John’s personality really shines through in this work. There’s a humor component to a lot of the pieces.”
Found objects, such as retro booths, vintage tables, a jukebox and the Ford, become integrated components of the overall exhibit.
“I’ve been collecting objects for this show specifically for years,” says Miller, who discovers them at yard sales and antique shops.
Some original 1956 Dog n Suds cherry red booths, all mint condition, were purchased from a collection on Route 66 in Tawanda, Ill.
“They’re exactly the way they were when they were pulled out in the ’70s. I don’t understand how that’s even possible. I think they just used good materials,” says Miller.
The cobalt blue 1954 Ford Mainline, intact but for its engine and transmission, is also in remarkably good shape, although Miller says, “it’s just crusty enough.”
Glass curly fries, a juicy-looking burger and condiments are positioned under the hood atop a sheet-metal platform Miller built, and ridged chips spill out of an open door from their placement on the red leather seats, lit from above with neon tubing.
All around the V-ATE installation lay assorted tools, keys, pull tabs and bottle caps, the types of objects Miller recalls seeing in auto shops and his father’s motorcycle shop.
“This is all brand-new stuff for me; I’ve never shown it. I did it for this exhibition,” says Miller, noting that it’s his largest solo museum exhibit to date.
Works are made with assorted glass making techniques; among them, free blown, fused, pressed with textured steel, blown into a plaster mold, and hot sculpted.
Bottle caps, he says, are cut glass discs slumped with heat over a form, whereas pull tabs are fused glass. The tabs are heated in a 2,000-degree fire hole, before he bends the molten glass into different shapes.
“They’re based on these little chains that I made when I was a kid at the racetrack in the ’70s. I used to find them all over the place, build these little pop-top chains and drag them around,” Miller says.
Bright red and yellow pours out of the Ford’s exhaust pipes, ending in puddles on the ground.
“These are ladle casts; poured out of a big cast iron ladle. Then I put them in the kiln, let them kind of cool down, and I get them out and paint them,” says Miller, noting that they are among the few painted glass pieces in the show.
French fries start out as little balls of clear glass and when they’re hot enough, he sifts powdered colored glass over the surface, which fuses immediately. Salt and pepper shakers, filled with pebbles, stand at the ready.
Referencing some crinkly potato chips Miller says with a laugh, “These are fun to make too, because they’re ladled, cast, poured, and then I smash them with an angle iron mold.”
Fluffy bits of popcorn, each a hollow blown piece, fill large red and white metal containers, also crafted by Miller.
A pair of precarious looking floor lamps made of blown and cast glass and steel are meticulously balanced.
“A 30-pound slab of glass holds it down and then the weight of the blown glass piece tightens everything up,” he explains.
In the Delicate Desserts section, Miller’s glazed donuts, a tasty looking cupcake, a melting ice cream cone and colorful lollypops pay tribute to the Pop Art imagery of Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein and others of that era.
A glass of milk, a white ‘Styrofoam’ cup, and a white blown glass to-go coffee cup bearing the word ‘hot’ on its cast glass black lid sit alongside the goodies.
The pink sprinkles on the cupcake and donuts, he says, are made with a traditional Italian technique that’s a little like making taffy.
“You start with pink; you get some clear over the outside and then stretch it across the shop about 40 feet. And then they get nipped up into little pieces and put on,” says Miller, before adding, “painstakingly.”
The blown glass Suckers, which started out as chunks of colored glass from Germany, were crafted with a heating process not dissimilar to real candy. Melt, the upside-down cone, he says utilized a blend of techniques, with the ice cream made from blown glass, the cone ribs made using optic molds and the puddle shaped by ladle casting.
Classic diner and drive-in fare such as his Sloppy American Burger, oozing with pickles and cheese, and Chili Dog, complete with relish, chili, onions and a pepperoncini, are also constructed with a range of techniques, enhanced with silicone ketchup and mustard.
“There’s no gluing. Parts are pre-made and then I grab them with a plumber and stick them all together,” Miller explains. “When glass is hot, it’s sticky, so you can put two pieces together and it’s like a marble stone.”
The impressive Classic Heat series of blown glass works are a conglomeration of 20th century hood ornaments, aka radiator mascots, from many different models, years and makes. Stylistic inspirations were derived from such elements as the Ford ‘Moto Meter,’ Oldsmobile and Cadillac headlights and Chrysler wings.
“They’re never going to be made again,” Miller says, explaining that each was a one-off. “You can try to copy them, but there’s no way that you can do it.”
A 20-minute video presentation, an excerpt from one made when Miller created a giant cupcake to celebrate the 20th birthday of the Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, provides a little insight into the glass making process.
“You see a lot of the aspects of it that he’s implemented in other pieces, and then also we have a cupcake around the corner so that you can make that connection,” says Swindell.
“There’s so much joy in his work. So much technique and so much joy.”
For more information, visit VBMuseum.org.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
