People that I have met and admired during my life make up the Threads of My Life. One of those persons is Jim Miller, the artist. I met Jim in the 1960s, when he began art lessons with a group Joan McCrary put together. The lessons were in Jim’s house on West Shell Street. Joan moved to Healdton from Oklahoma City, where she had been employed in the Art and Classified Department of The Daily Oklahoman. She did not want to give up her art and she put this group together while she lived here.

She talked to a professor friend of hers from O.U. to come and teach the art classes. I was a photographer and Joan asked me to come and photograph some of the paintings this group produced. Jim’s first art was paintings from postcard pictures. I think the first painting of Jim’s that I photographed was of an Indian Chief’s head. It was very good.

Other subjects Jim painted were scenes he remembered from the days he lived in Colorado and was employed on a large ranch. So, his paintings were mostly of Western scenes. His paintings of horses were especially good.

Later, Jim began to do bronzes. That is when he came into his own. Jim would come by my studio with a new painting or bronze and I would capture it on film for him in order for him to have a record of his work.

When we had company come in from out of state, we would call Jim and ask if we could bring them by his studio for a visit. One memorable visit was when we had a judge from Pennsylvania visiting. Jim was showing his work and the judge asked Jim if he had ever done a bronze of a grizzly bear. Jim let out a hearty laugh and replied that he had not done so, because up to that time he had not been close enough to a grizzly bear to see enough details to produce a bronze. Years later, Jim made a gift to me of a small bronze of a grizzly bear that he had done.

Another time I took my two older sisters down to Jim’s studio for a visit. Jim was explaining to them how a bronze was made. He told about how he would make the wax, and then when he took it to be fired, he would lose his wax. One of my sisters reached out and patted Jim on the arm, and said, “Oh, I am so sorry!” Later, I was attending one of Jim’s shows and he told his audience this story about my sister’s misconception of how a bronze was made. We still get a laugh about it.

Jim is a very talented artist. His bronzes have nationwide fame. He is one of my favorite people. My life has been enriched by knowing Jim.