Miller, Alec (1879-1961)
Miller, Alec
Glasgow, Scotland, and Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire; wood carver (b.1879-d.1961)
Miller was apprenticed to Caroline Anstruther (later Mrs Mackay), a wood carver in Glasgow, in 1891 at the age of twelve. He went on to become a Guildsman in the Guild of Handicraft at Chipping Campden and for the last two decade of this life a well-known sculptor in the USA.
Anstruther encouraged Miller to attend evening classes in drawing and woodcarving at the Kyrle Society, which also had sales and social events. More classes followed for him at the Glasgow High School from 1896 and later at the School of Art. Some of his work was sent to an Arts and Crafts Exhibition by Anstruther. Carruthers (2013) states that during Miller’s apprenticeship ‘he learned to carve foliage and low relief panels of figures, animals and trees, often incorporated into furniture made in Alec’s father’s [William Miller] cabinet shop'. He also learnt his craft on everyday items such as staircase balusters and earned wages by sharpening the tools of pupils who attended lessons at the workshops.
In 1902 he moved to Chipping Campden at the request of C. R. Ashbee to become the head of wood carving and modelling at the Guild of Handicraft and remained in the town until 1938. After the closure of the Guild of Handicraft in 1911 he and Will Hart set up as carvers and architectural modellers on the top floor of the Guild’s former premises. His collection of working references, including books and folders of illustrations and magazine articles is at Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery.
For details of his work exhibited by Ashbee or the Guild of Handicraft at the Arts & Crafts Exhibitions, London, 1888-1916, see https://bifmo.furniturehistorysociety.org/entry/guild-of-handicraft-ashbee-cr-1888-1916
Alec Miller also exhibited at the Arts & Crafts Exhibition, London, 1910; a bust of a child's head (cat. no. 471).
Sources: Arts & Crafts Exhibition catalogues, 1888-1916; Bowe, ‘A Cotswold-inspired venture towards Modernism in Ireland: Edward Richards Orpen (1884-1967) and the Grange Furniture Industry 1927-1932’, The Decorative Arts Society 1850-1932 (2003); Greensted and Wilson, Originality and Initiative. The Arts and Crafts archives at Cheltenham (2003); Carruthers, The Arts and Crafts Movement in Scotland (2013).
Occupation
Ornamentation/Design
Style