Metropolitan Parkc. 200348 x 48 " (121.9 x 121.9 cm)Linoleum, construction adhesive, varnish on woodEva and Morris Feld Folk Art Acquisition Fund, and Gift from the Andrea Stern and Kenneth Dipaola Collection2025.20.111579759350Bill MillerPaintingsverso: 'Metropolitan Park / Bill Miller'
verso: 'Metro Park'
verso: 'Bill Miller'http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster27226http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12058http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12256http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster10993Silver SpringSilver SpringUnited StatesMarylandRecent AcquisitionsAdam ReichIn This House I Call Home, dieFirma East, Shelter Island, New York, August 19–23, 2020.Silver Springhttps://www.instagram.com/p/DW6LrdliLf-/?igsh=MWFtMnFzNDYwbWxyYQ%3D%3Dtitle includes nickname given by gallery rep. Metropolitan Park is the formal artist-given titleObject information is a work in progress and may be updated
with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art
Museum welcomes additional information. To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgRendered entirely from salvaged linoleum flooring, this collage by Bill Miller was inspired by a family photograph taken when the artist was just two years old. Set against a hand-cut landscape of flowering wetlands and towering trees, the child stands in a fantastical version of Cleveland’s Metropolitan Park. In this setting, surface patterns rhythmically overlap to resemble water channels, lily pads, tree bark, and vegetation. Although the specific day captured in the original photograph is unknown, the image evokes for Miller the countless “dawn ‘til dusk” days he spent outdoors with his father, who often brought him to Metropolitan Park to connect with his Cleveland roots.
Created about a decade into Miller’s work with linoleum, this piece marks a turning point in his practice. At this stage, he began to mine his own family history, drawing on photographs, oral narratives, and the contrasts between rural and urban life. His family’s story bridges Cleveland, Ohio and their coal mining and farming heritage in Beckley, West Virginia.
Miller’s father died in an industrial accident when the artist was a teenager, and this image carries the emotional undercurrent of that loss. For Miller, Metropolitan Park is not only a reflection on childhood, it becomes a symbolic landscape that conveys the intimacy of place and the enduring weight of working-class life. By using salvaged linoleum, a material once common in American homes, he brings the textures of the recent past into the present to “create a sense of common memory,” even as the subject remains deeply personal.
This is the first work by Bill Miller to enter the Museum’s collection and underscores our commitment to artists who engage with regional and personal histories through distinctive material choices.http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster27226http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12058http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12256http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster10993http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster27226http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12058http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12256http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster10993http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster27226http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12058http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster12256http://nodes.emuseum.com/BU1BGBAG/apis/emuseum/network/v1/vocabularies/termMaster1099319982008 2025 20 1 https://www.instagram.com/p/DW6LrdliLf-/?igsh=MWFtMnFzNDYwbWxyYQ%3D%3Dtitle includes nickname given by gallery rep. Metropolitan Park is the formal artist-given titleObject information is a work in progress and may be updated
with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art
Museum welcomes additional information. To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgRendered entirely from salvaged linoleum flooring, this collage by Bill Miller was inspired by a family photograph taken when the artist was just two years old. Set against a hand-cut landscape of flowering wetlands and towering trees, the child stands in a fantastical version of Cleveland’s Metropolitan Park. In this setting, surface patterns rhythmically overlap to resemble water channels, lily pads, tree bark, and vegetation. Although the specific day captured in the original photograph is unknown, the image evokes for Miller the countless “dawn ‘til dusk” days he spent outdoors with his father, who often brought him to Metropolitan Park to connect with his Cleveland roots.
Created about a decade into Miller’s work with linoleum, this piece marks a turning point in his practice. At this stage, he began to mine his own family history, drawing on photographs, oral narratives, and the contrasts between rural and urban life. His family’s story bridges Cleveland, Ohio and their coal mining and farming heritage in Beckley, West Virginia.
Miller’s father died in an industrial accident when the artist was a teenager, and this image carries the emotional undercurrent of that loss. For Miller, Metropolitan Park is not only a reflection on childhood, it becomes a symbolic landscape that conveys the intimacy of place and the enduring weight of working-class life. By using salvaged linoleum, a material once common in American homes, he brings the textures of the recent past into the present to “create a sense of common memory,” even as the subject remains deeply personal.
This is the first work by Bill Miller to enter the Museum’s collection and underscores our commitment to artists who engage with regional and personal histories through distinctive material choices.