Colorful Character June Miller Creates Art and “Junk”
From the moment you step foot into June Miller’s downtown Melbourne Art and Junk store and gallery, a burst of color hits you. Her pieces, as well as her store, are alive with color and personality. The gallery features not only her beautiful artwork, but also jewelry, lamp shades, furniture and more.
June started painting seriously about 20 years ago and opened her first gallery in Salt Lake City, Utah called Funky Junk and Stuff. The artist and her husband, Bryan, who also is her business manager, moved to this area about five years ago and have been at their current store in downtown Melbourne for about two years.
June, who is originally from Guyana, South America, credits her talent and vision to her mother and grandmother. Her grandmother used to take her to see East Indian movies which were full of fabulous colors, while her mother would take her to Carnival celebrations. June swears those visions have made a lasting impression on her.
June is influenced by the jazz music – including the sounds of Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli and Miles Davis – that is usually playing in the background, and most of her pieces are titled after these musician’s great jazz songs. She says the music takes her into this “crazy place” that helps her connect to the canvas. While some of her pieces can take only three days to complete, some can take up to three months. Sometimes June spends all night painting.
June has an open spirit that allows new ideas to come in. She wants her art to be affordable and admired. She makes all her art so that people are able to touch the pieces, feel the textures and take in the piece. One of the new items she is working on in her store is cigar boxes. These boxes are beautiful pieces that include one of the paintings from her series, as well as ornate pieces on the inside. One of June’s pieces, “Nuages,” was used in the Mardi Gras promotions and took two months to complete. “Nuages” is the first of her pieces to be featured in a promotional campaign.
Visit Art and Junk in downtown Melbourne to see the beautiful colors in the gallery and to meet the fascinating woman behind all of it.
818 E New Haven Ave., Unit 104, Melbourne, FL 32901 (Inside La Galerie)
