Learning Talk
An Evening with Harland Miller
Join celebrated artist and author Harland Miller in conversation with the Design Museum’s Director Tim Marlow.
Priority booking for members.
A natural-born raconteur, artist and writer, Harland Miller’s work draws on his life experiences; light anecdotes and darker truths that began in childhood. Growing up in Yorkshire in the 1970s, books were an important part of his formative years and the inspiration for his celebrated Penguin dust jacket series, characterised by their wittily subversive titles. Miller’s parallel love of typography was the prompt for his similarly iconic Letter Paintings, an ongoing series in which mono or two-syllable words are layered in bold, saturated colours with a hard graphic edge.
As the Design Museum presents this special exhibition of works from the Letter Paintings series, this conversation chaired by our Director Tim Marlow, will explore Miller’s illustrious career, the origins of his Letter Paintings, the importance of language as a tool for visual communication, and the symbiotic relationship between art and design.
This conversation is part of an ongoing series with leading contemporary designers, makers, thinkers and creatives.
Speakers
Artist and writer Harland Miller’s polychromatic and graphically vernacular paintings have garnered a devoted following. Infused with irreverent northern English humour and refined by his lifelong love of language, Miller’s work synthesises references from both high and low culture, spanning literature, music, self-help manuals and medieval iconography.
Tim Marlow is Chief Executive, Director of the Design Museum. Formerly Artistic Director of the Royal Academy of Arts and Director of Exhibitions at White Cube. Tim sits on the Board of Trustees for the Imperial War Museum was awarded an OBE in 2019. Marlow has been involved in the contemporary art world as a curator, writer and broadcaster and has worked with some of the most important artists of our time to deliver a range programmes to bring a commitment to diverse exhibitions.
Book online
Adult: £20
Student/Concession: £16
Members*: £15
*Please note that this benefit only applies one individual cardholding Member’s ticket and not those of additional guests.
• Suitable age 18+. Young people aged 16–17 must have a ticket and be accompanied by an adult ticket holder (aged 18 or older). Children aged 15 and under are not permitted at this event.
• Do you require BSL interpretation? Please note that your ticket must be purchased at least 1 month before the event to request a BSL interpreter. We won't be able to provide a BSL interpreter if the ticket is purchased less than a month before the event.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. Visit our terms & conditions page for further information.
The book
To accompany our December showcase of the internationally renowned author and graphic artist Harland Miller whose polychromatic paintings have gained him a devoted following and critical acclaim. The first book to focus exclusively on Harland Miller’s popular series of Letter Paintings.
Related display
Background image: Harland Miller portrait © Ollie Hammick
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