Chazz Miller

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Chazz Miller
Charles "Chazz" Miller being interviewed by Detroit Local News.
Born
EducationColumbus College of Art and Design (1981-1986)
Known forPainting
MovementMuralist and Street Art

Charles "Chazz" Miller is an American street art muralist from Detroit, Michigan. He is the founder of the Artist Village, a program of Motor City Blight Busters, a nonprofit organization located in Old Redford aimed at stabilizing and revitalizing Detroit communities.[1][2]

Chazz is also the founder of Detroit Public Art Workz (PAWZ), which is an initiative to stimulate community growth by providing a creative outlet for Detroit youth with the intention of instilling an appreciation of the Arts.[3][4]

Biography[edit]

Miller grew up in the inner city of Detroit, and showed an early interest in art.[5] Therefore he moved to Columbus, Ohio to study painting and advertising at the Columbus College of Art and Design (1981-1986).

Miller's first significant urban renewal project was the Artist Village, where he occupied an artist studio.[6] As part of his "urban beautification" work he painted murals on exterior walls of the Artist Village complex, as well as other buildings in the neighbourhood.[6]

Social Impact[edit]

Miller's first project, PAWZ, provides art programs and positive role models to more than 1000 inner city children per year.[7] The program was commissioned by the City of Detroit to create an art installation in the Brightmoor neighbourhood, also involving the youth in the creation.[7]

In 2010 Chazz Miller and several volunteers painted plywood cutouts of butterflies as part of an anti-blight campaign called the "Papillion Effect" ("Papillon" is French for butterfly). Miller added several butterflies to the nature trail at Eliza Howell Park.[8][9]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The Artist Village Detroit". Michigan Municipal League - Placemaking:Artist Village Detroit. 2013-03-22. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
  2. ^ Guyette, Curt. "Blight buster". Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
  3. ^ TEDx Talks (2012-03-08), TEDxDetroit - Chazz Miller - 10/21/09, retrieved 2017-04-07
  4. ^ Hughes, Ivy. "Coloring Detroit". Next City. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
  5. ^ "Mitch Albom Charities | Selfie-Esteem in the Heart of Detroit". mitchalbomcharities.org. Archived from the original on 2016-07-09. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
  6. ^ a b Thomas, June Manning (2012). Dewar, Margaret (ed.). The city after abandonment (1st ed.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812207309. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  7. ^ a b Issue 29, Next American City. "Coloring Detroit - Detour Art". www.detourart.com. Archived from the original on 2017-04-13. Retrieved 2017-04-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Terek, Donna (2010-05-22). "Detroit butterfly project has wings". The Detroit News.
  9. ^ Heripolitics., Staff (2017). Murals and Tourism : Heritage, Politics and Identity. Staff, Heritage and Identity., Skinner, Jonathan., Jolliffe, Lee. Florence: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 978-1317001249. OCLC 988869932.