Marie Switzer Miller

Marie's education and experience cover a broad spectrum of art and art activity. She has eighteen years of experience as a concept designer and art director for museums, corporate identity centers, and theme parks, most notably for Walt Disney World. As a Show Designer for Walt Disney Imagineering and an Art Director for BRC Imagination Arts, Marie's concepts and designs won international recognition. In the most recent past, she has been the Creative Director for SPACE Arts Center, developing public artworks and creating interactive community art projects at events and festivals for which she was just awarded the 2018 Creative Community Award by the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce. She has taught at Art Center College of Design, Woodbury University, and SPACE. She received a BS in Environmental Design from Art Center College of Design. If you have any questions or comments, please contact her at marielsmiller@gmail.com.

When I was a child, I wasn’t a strong reader, so when I saw my first diorama, I fell in love. It was a story I could walk into. Since then, my work as an artist has been about creating new worlds and experiences, special places that take the viewer into other dimensions. In creating Dinoland at Disney Animal Kingdom Park, I wanted to capture the love that I had as a 4th grader when I saw a papier mache dinosaur. I knew it wasn’t real but it created a spark in my brain and served as a bridge between the world of fantasy and reality. When I design large-scale interactive installations I get inspired by objects I find in everyday life. With the Giant Easel project, I used scale and unusual materials to create something recognizable – an artist’s easel – that allowed all ages access to image and mark making. It took away the preciousness of the artist’s process and democratized it. Another interactive project, A Huge Foolish Project, used a lawn ornament – a whirligig – as the point of inspiration for a large-scale kinetic sculpture. The execution of the project was a six-week collaboration between hundreds of elementary school students, artists, and community members. The installation served as a whimsical way to show how nature can be harnessed to create alternative energy while expressing my desire to marry art and technology to create visual stories with a dose of wonder. I use my art to engage with my community and I want it to engage with me back. It’s not a one-way conversation – it’s a dialogue that creates meaningful connections for both me and the audience.