Autodidact
Fascinated by drawing and the natural world from a very early age, Miller pursued his art on his own terms. Though he was accepted for study at the prestigious Art Institute of Chicago, he found the curriculum limiting and never finished the program. Instead, he taught himself. He learned plasterwork by making a 6-ft.-tall Buddha for a stage set. By experimenting with a guidebook and a pocketknife, he learned how to make woodcuts. He mastered batik, a craft for which the Art Institute awarded him a medal, after reading an entry in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

• "Edgar Miller and the Handmade Home" from CityFiles Press