Roadside Reverie: Glass Works by John Miller

October 5, 2024–January 5, 2025

Holmes Gallery

This solo exhibition, replete with over 40 large-scale glass sculptures by John Miller (American, b. 1966) comprising hundreds of individually molded and blown glass components, marks the artist’s largest solo museum exhibition to date. It is VBMA’s first solo glass exhibition in nearly a decade and the first organized for the Museum by Chief Curator Caitlin Swindell.

The exhibition spans four of Miller’s artistic series: “Hot Stuff,” “The Blue Plate Special,” “Do Not Duplicate,” and “Classic Heat”—created from 2008 to 2024. The artworks reflect his fascination with and personal connection to American automotive and food culture and the Pop Art movement of the 1960s. Drawing inspiration from prominent Pop Art figures like Claes Oldenburg, Miller imbues his contemporary pieces with both reverence and humor, evoking nostalgia and joy in visitors.

An instrumental work shown for the first time is Miller’s V-ATE, 2024, which cleverly references V8 engines. This piece combines select glass works by Miller integrated within a site-specific installation of a 1954 Ford Mainline. The inclusion of this artwork marks the first time that Miller has exhibited a mixed-media installation of this scale in a museum or gallery.

V-ATE serves as a significant focal point in Roadside Reverie, merging two thematic groupings of Miller’s artworks included in the exhibition. One body of work focuses on car culture, including hood ornaments, car keys, and tools, while the other features diner food such as hamburgers, fries, condiments, and other diner fare and accoutrements—all made from glass.

Roadside Reverie: Glass Works by John Miller is organized by the Vero Beach Museum of Art and features select loans from the Tacoma Museum of Glass and the artist’s personal collection.

This exhibition is organized by the Vero Beach Museum of Art.

Presenting Sponsors: The Yela “Peter” and Derek Fowler Endowment for Acquisitions and Exhibitions, Patricia M. Patten Endowment, and the Estate of Glee and Robert Ries Endowment.
Patron Sponsors: Mary and Don Blair and Barbara Konforti
Exhibition Sponsors: George P. Armstrong Endowment Fund, Museum Endowment, and The Laughing Dog Gallery