My Story

The Journey of an Ol' School Artist to the Road of NFTs

I have been painting and exhibiting for more than twenty-five years and have sold art at almost every conceivable venue from conventions, fairs, markets and festivals to fine art galleries. Along the way I methodically documented my artworks and my progression. I took 35 mm slides of everything I did  with my trusty camera, a Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Prima.  Next the slide film was developed by the local photo shop.  Then, wearing cotton white gloves, I would gingerly cut every good slide image from the roll.  They were taped with silver tape and mounted in plastic frames.

Once finished they were placed in tidy plastic boxes and stowed safely away.  This was my archival method of choice until sometime late 2006 or 2007 when friends finally convinced me digital photos were not a fad, but, unfortunately, I never went back and digitized what I had already shot -- there would be plenty of time for that, or so I thought.

Then late 2011 my family and I decided to live in Europe for a while. As part of the move from Vail, Colorado, I shipped six stout boxes, filled with artwork, to my folks in South Carolina for safekeeping. Half were stuffed with childhood drawings and paintings progressing through high school and college. The other half was all exhibited paintings (at that point mostly plein air) along with slides and newspaper articles and other such memorabilia. Paintings too big to ship, and a few thought to be too precious, along with duplicate slides and clippings, were held back and placed in the care of a relative. To make a long story short, the carrier I used lost half of what I shipped (the childhood through college stuff made it, but the paintings did not) and, later, the house of the relative was flooded with raw sewage (the result of a broken pipe) ruining everything. Simply put, the two events blasted the majority of my records and work out of history. So, for me, NFTs are not just another medium, but a way to preserve my visual art much like an archive; I wish they existed in 2010 and I had been industrious enough to have used them.

Over time, I am happy to report that I have gained back something of my portfolio. So I am encouraged and hopeful about retrieving more slide sleeves of my work. It is my intention to mint NFTs of what I recover — along with all future work.

All copyright rights and privileges remain the sole property of the artist, Gregory J. Miller. Only the NFT itself is being offered for sale.