While we are all practicing physical distancing, the Crisfield Arts & Entertainment District Coordinator interviewed artist Jackie Miller on the phone. Jackie lives in Marion Station but is active in several Crisfield activities, including 4th Saturday Bay Strolls, the Have a Seat in Crisfield fundraiser and the newly founded artist co-op at the former Corbin Library at 4 E Main Street (now the Corbin Studio & Gallery).
Jackie is a talented and diverse painter and is relatively new to the Eastern Shore. She fell in love with Marion Station on a trip from her former home in Baltimore County to a nephew’s wedding in Williamsburg. On the way she and her husband stopped to visit a friend’s home in Marion Station and decided this was where they wanted to live. They purchased a home here about five years ago. Jackie says that she loves the artsy nature of the area, and how friendly everyone is. She said, “This is where I should have been years ago!”
When she moved to the Shore, Jackie anticipated traveling to Berlin or Salisbury to participate in art events but said she was pleasantly surprised to find how active Crisfield’s art community is. Her favorite local activity is the 4th Saturday Bay Strolls, held near the City Dock at the end of route 413 every fourth Saturday of the month from May through November. She also loves all the other things that the area offers, from seafood to Smith Island tours.
Jackie’s husband, Steve, is an avid hunter and fisherman and this area has been a joy for him. Steve and Jackie eat primarily foods that Steve has provided, such as deer and rockfish. Her bench panel “Crisfield Treasures” represents their joy in some of the great sport and seafood from the Chesapeake Bay.
I asked Jackie how the bench painted of pelicans came about (I love the dark “heart” of feathers on the juveniles!). It turns out that at a 4th Saturday Bay Stroll, a woman commissioned Jackie to paint an oar with photos of the visitor’s recent trip to Smith Island to see the pelicans. She provided dozens of stunning photos from the trip. Carol Heck, the Chair of the Crisfield Arts & Entertainment District Project and co-manager of Crisfield’s local community radio station, WBYC 107.3, saw the oar painted with pelicans and commissioned a bench for the Have a Seat fundraiser on behalf of the radio station.
You can learn more about the Have a Seat fundraiser, which supports the Crisfield Arts & Entertainment District (CAED) Project, at CrisfieldArts.org or bid online at CharityAuction.bid/HaveaSeatinCrisfield2020. To get involved with the CAED Project, email [email protected].
See more of Jackie Miller’s watercolors at Facebook.com/JMWatercolors. The CAED Project would like to thank Jackie for generously sharing her gifts with us.
