Two Royal Oak Dads Team Up to Design Ofrenda 10/13/14

Alex Goecke and Steve Miller collaborated on a piece for Day of the Dead Exhibit at Detroit Institute of the Arts

By Beth Dalbey (Patch Staff)

Royal Oak residents, Alex Goecke and Steve Miller, teamed up to create an ofrenda (offering) for the Detroit Institute of Arts Mexican Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) exhibition. Their work, along with 28 others, will be on display from Friday, October 24 – Sunday November 2nd.

Miller and Goecke’s ofrenda will be a tribute to Robin Williams. They plan to showcase a paper mache Robin Williams departing our world in the egg from which he came (on the hit TV show, Mork and Mindy.)

The two artists met at Northwood Elementary School drop-off, where they each have two children attending. Goecke is an art educator by day, often hosting folk artists from Oaxaca, Mexico, thereby inspiring this particular Dia de los Muertos display.

Miller is a stay-at-home dad and painter who draws from his background in advertising/graphic design and his skills as a pseudo-rusty-improvisational drummer to create artwork. This creative-minded duo of dads also likes to collaborate on music projects at night. So, it’s also important to note that they both have loving, supportive wives who try not to hinder their inspiration — unless they need to pick the kids up from school.

Detroit Institute of Arts hours and admission: Museum hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays; 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is $8 for adults; $6 for seniors; $4 for ages 6-17 and free for DIA members and residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.

A Cow Not on Parade – 9/30/14

Well, unfortunately, my cow was not selected by a “donor” at auction. However, the good people of Cow Parade are not ready to give up on seeing this idea become a reality, and neither am I. So I thought I’d put the word out and see if anyone is interested in becoming owner of “Infra-Red-Meat”, a supporter of public art in Detroit and a charitable donor to cancer research.

My artist statement about the cow:

My name is Steve Miller. No, not that Steve Miller. Although I do write songs and play guitar, my primary interest is fine art. Specifically, painting.

I paint to see what my head, heart and hand can produce. My visual stories capture moments in time, abstract ideas and layered feelings. I explore abstraction as well as representation and sometimes I work in an exaggerated color palate.

My cow, “Infra Red Meat” is inspired by thermal photography. Thermal imaging cameras take pictures of heat. Different temperatures show up as different colors. Violet and blue represent cooler temperatures, green is in the middle and red and yellow are warmer. White is hot. Warmer colors appear where there is less insulating fat and lots of blood flow.

Because this isn’t a ‘real’ cow, I don’t find it important to depict ‘real’ thermal imaging. For me painting is about expression, not mimicking. So, in order to integrate my head, heart and hand, I chose to imagine and interpret what the cow might look like as if my eyes where thermal cameras, using my own body and limited understanding of bovine anatomy as a reference.

I hope that when you look at a fiberglass cow decorated this way, it makes you think about cows in more ways than just a public decoration.