September Artist of the Month: Kara Buse

A Central Texas native, artist and photographer Kara Buse finds beauty in the uniqueness of each individual, the diversity of the planet, and mother nature in all her glory. Kara is driven to discover the balance between expressing something that is deeply meaningful and creating a sense of joy that will touch the lives of others through her work.

Kara uses visual storytelling to showcase the organic, visceral human experience where words often fail. This is the WHY behind Kara’s work, and the reason for the Y in Wyld Roots. Kara has had the privilege of working with some of the most inspiring creatives and brands: strangers and friends who have supported and contributed to making Wyld Roots an inimitable lifestyle platform.

“I have been a loyal customer of Miller for going on 4 years now and I couldn’t be more happy with the quality of their work and people. Dana, the fine arts specialist, has given me so much joy by helping me honor the meaningful photography in my life through printed and tangible artifacts that I have sold in galleries or hung in my own home. She has nurtured my understanding of the art of printing and I am very grateful!”

Contact Kara:
Instagram: @wyld_roots
Website: wyldroots.com

Contact our fine art specialist, Dana Burton, for more information on fine art scans and reproduction.

August Artist of the Month: Salvador Rodriguez

Salvador Rodriguez was born in Tijuana, Mexico. Perhaps inadvertently, he has painted and studied landscapes almost all his life. Salvador lived his childhood in the countryside not far from the city. From a very young age he used to run in the hills, climb mountains and spend a long time contemplating the landscape until sunset where he liked to keep all the details of the landscape in his memory and paint and draw them at home.
 
In high school Salvador first demonstrated his skills in painting without any previous studies. He participated and won first place at a local and national level, and thanks to this won a scholarship to attend drawing classes at the local college for a year. On the other hand, his interest and love for physics and science led him to be awarded a scholarship to attend college at ITESM in Monterrey where he obtained a degree in Engineering Computer Science in 1992.
 
“I pursued my career for over 23 years, traveling and visiting many places but never missed an opportunity to study landscaping and painting…even so, my production was very small. It wasn’t until I arrived in Austin in 2014 that I was able to really immerse myself in art and produce over 50 big paintings in a few years and be part of many exhibitions.
 
I love Texas and my favorite landscapes to paint are deserts, especially Big Bend where the mountains and sands are the frame of my paintings and along with the blue sky and its capricious clouds create a composition that gives me that energy and tranquility of balance that I tried to put in my paintings.
 
Also, my interest and passion for the study of the life of plants of different species and of trees have led me to participate in the art of Bonsai. I have immersed myself in Bonsai associations which have allowed me to understand and appreciate the tree’s life.
 
My work is the result of a meticulous study of nature; plants, rocks, clouds in detail that can be appreciated in the composition … and the balance of its strong and soft colors, which produce pleasure and tranquility when contemplating it.
 
My inspiration stems mostly from the landscapes of Big Bend and the desert of Texas and Northern Mexico, but I am also influenced by surrealism, and I consider art as an agent of change on social consciousness.
 
Each painting is a project of months or years of work that begins with a trip and study of the place, and ends in my workshop. After adding compositions in skies, plants and rocks to give balance, and before creating a plant on the canvas, I like to study them and know them previously, as well as their ecosystem and especially the history and myths of the place, which I try to capture in my works. So beyond trying to reproduce a photographic copy is a composition and recreation of the essence of the place with native plants.
 
My most used technique now is acrylic on canvas, for practicality, since it dries quickly and allows me mobility, but I have also worked with oil and more frequently watercolors and many drawings for my sketches.
 
Since my arrival in Austin 8 years ago I have painted over 46 artworks that have been exhibited mostly at EAST and WEST Austin Studio tours and other Art Gallery in Austin.”
 
Contact Salvador:
Instagram: @salvador.rodriguez_art
Website: SalvadorRodriguezArt

 

Contact our fine art specialist, Dana Burton, for more information on fine art scans and reproduction.

Graphics Feature: Westlake High School Baseball

Westlake High School wanted to pump up their players by refreshing their baseball locker room and dugout (who isn’t inspired by beautiful surroundings!). We teamed up with a graphic designer who could accomplish their motivational and design goals, then handled the printing and installation of the project.

We printed their graphics on large format adhesive vinyl, similar to a peel and stick wallpaper. This allowed our installers to put the graphics up in panels with the fewest number of seams possible. We recommended the proper vinyl that would adhere to the textured walls, in this case cinderblock. This material is able to stretch slightly to be smoothed over any texture.

Vinyl panels work for both indoor and outdoor use and are very easy to maintain. Because the vinyl has a smooth surface and is laminated, it can be wiped down if it starts looking dirty or dull, which is great for outdoor areas or spaces that are exposed to the elements.

Vinyl wall graphics are one of our favorite ways to brand a space because they really pack a punch. The process is fairly simple once the designs are created, making it one of the easiest ways to make a big visual difference pretty quickly.

We would love to help with your next graphics project whether that be with large-scale adhesive vinyl or something else!

Quick personal notes: Ralph Yznaga was the designer for these graphics. Ralph has designed other projects inside the locker rooms of Westlake and has worked with Miller in various capacities for years. He designed our current website! Alongside that, he is the Editor and Co-Owner of Edible Magazine! Our thanks goes out to Coach JT Blair at WHS; we helped him with the initial “rebrand” of the locker room about seven years ago and he called on us again to help this go-around. Thanks Coach!

If you would like to get started on a project with our graphics team, reach out to Sydney Donelson at CSSR@MillerIDS.com.

April Artist of the Month: Paul Stankiewicz

Sometimes inspiration comes from childhood memories or a song on the radio, urban nature and iconic Austin scenes.

Paul Stankiewicz creates a broad range of images that reflect his varied interests and versatility as an artist. Paul graduated with a degree in Industrial Design from Columbus College of Art and Design. He started his career in advertising, then video production, 3D animation and computer game art direction. In his art, he uses everything from large canvases that are sanded down and washed, to layered cut wood panels that are animated with the crank of a handle.

Not literal replicas, Paul’s paintings weave together layers of color and texture to create an impression of the subjects. The designs typically begin with his photos manipulated in the computer, creating layers . . . reality rearranged. The paint then creates an image that is vivid and recognizable and sometimes has the illusion of a photo-like image, but up close the work is distinctly abstract. “I try to resist the temptations of smaller detail brushes. I want the viewer to complete the picture as they want, in their mind. I wish I could say that my process starts with exhaustive research and in-depth studies, but usually I dive right in. I look forward to the learning that is about to take place as each new work reveals itself.”

“In an earlier life when I was in advertising, I visited Miller Blue Print many times to pick up supplies, or graphics for advertisings and presentations. Now I have been visiting Miller again, Miller Imaging, for high end scanning and reproductions of my paintings. They have been a great asset, always putting in the extra time and effort to make their product the best possible.”

Contact Paul:
Website: paulswork.com

Contact our fine art specialist, Dana Burton, for more information on fine art scans and reproduction.

2023 PIA MidAmerica GraphEx Awards


Printing & Imaging of America (PIA) hosts the annual Graphic Excellence Awards (GraphEx Awards) which recognize our industry’s outstanding technical achievements in innovation and print production. This month we received advanced notice of 4 Best of Category Awards on entries our talented customers allowed us to enter.
  
The regional (MidAmerica) award event is in Dallas next month and we will learn if any of the entries won a regional Best of Show Award.

-Best of Category: art reproductions – digital for Katie Maratta Houses with Tumbleweeds and Haybales
-Best of Category: art reproductions – digital for Salvador Rodriguez Big Bend South View
-Best of Category: wide or grand format, special installation for Preacher Vinyl “Stained Glass”
-Best of Category: wide or grand format, interior/exterior scapes for Spurs Sports & Entertainment SXSW Event

Thank you to our amazing customers for trusting us with your projects and visions and to those who allowed us to enter their work into the GraphEx contest! We will update if any entries win further regional awards!

Congrats to all who won!

If you would like to get started on a project with our graphics team, reach out to Sydney Donelson at CSSR@MillerIDS.com.

Graphics Feature: Aquila Commercial Alto Jobsite Signage

We are getting a new neighbor at our downtown location! Aquila Commercial is building a 110,000-sf office development called Alto at 924 East 7th Street, which will plenty of office space as well as luxurious amenities and scenic views of East Austin, Downtown, and the State Capitol.

Our graphics account manager, Josh Meza, worked with Alta to produce construction banners for their jobsite. Our mesh banners are perfect for construction sites because they are durable and the mesh allows wind to flow through without damaging the banner or jobsite itself, as traditional vinyl banners can act like sails and rip fencing down when caught in strong winds. The mesh banners also reduce the loud flapping noise that the wind can cause in other vinyl banners. We sometimes see signage at jobsites that have slits cut into them to prevent wind damage, but with mesh banners there is no need to do this!

If you would like more information on the Alta office space, visit Aquila Commercial’s website and follow them on Instagram at @aquilaaustin.

If you would like to order any jobsite signage or get started on any other graphics order, contact Sydney at CSSR@MillerIDS.com.

July 2022 Featured Graphics: Algorand Event Branding

Algorand hosted a ping pong tournament at Smash ATX to kick off the Consensus conference. They wanted attendees to have the opportunity to compete for special NFTs that were designed specifically for this event. 

The goal of this project was to integrate Algorand’s brand identity seamlessly into the existing venue, as though the design was naturally part of the venue’s architecture.
 
Trott Studio, who planned the event, reached out to us to help make this goal happen. We printed many different cut vinyl pices to be applied to different surfaces including an oversized die cut graphic to apply to the outside of the venue, branding it with Algorand’s name. We also applied green vinyl strips with their name along the edges of the bar, and a large white vinyl logo to be applied over a tile wall in the venue.

Thank you to Algorand and Trott Studios for coming to us for this project and allowing us to be a small part of it!

Algorand’s Website: www.algorand.com 
Algorand’s Instagram: @algorand
Trott Studio’s (Event Creative Direction) Instagram: @trott.studios

To get started on your own graphics project, contact Sydney at CSSR@MillerIDS.com.

May 2022 Featured Artist: Janis Fowler

Janis Fowler is a 38 year old artist from South Carolina. She graduated in 2008 with a degree in architecture from Clemson University, but due to the recession at the time it was one of the most difficult professions to get hired into. Fowler decided to move to Austin right after graduation to try for an architecture job, but quickly switched to bartending and waiting tables as a way to make ends meet. Art has always been a passion of hers, and as time went on she was offered spots on the walls of the restaurants she worked at to display and sell the art she was creating in her free time.

“The success of my small art business has grown organically and chaotically since that day, and it remains a wonder to me that it came to be at all. My work has also been through many stages of growth, starting out as graphite portraits and later becoming playful, colorful paintings of people and animals, sometimes combined with landscapes and psychedelic elements.”

“I’m so thankful for the places that have enabled my success, one of the biggest places being Miller Blueprint. I became a Miller customer at the recommendation of another artist back around 2011, and have been blown away by their quality and customer service ever since. Thanks to the amazing work of Dana, I’ve been able to confidently sell prints of my work knowing the quality of the prints are absolute top-tier and the colors are spot on. It is such a joy to come into the 7th street location and see Dana and Larry and the rest of the crew as well. Miller Blueprint is just the best.”

Contact Janis:
Instagram: @fowlmouthed
Website: janis-fowler-art.squarespace.com
 
Contact our fine art specialist, Dana Burton, for more information on fine art scans and reproduction.

April 2022 Featured Graphics: PIA MidAmerica 2022 GraphEx Awards

Printing & Imaging of America (PIA) hosts annual Graphic Excellence Awards (GraphEx Awards) which recognize our industry’s outstanding technical achievements in innovation and print production. Earlier this month at the regional awards (MidAmerica) we received advanced notice of 10 awards on entries our talented customers allowed us to enter.

Best of Category:
Art reproductions digital- Tetris Austin by Mila Sketch
Calendars, booklet digital- Arielle Austin Calendars
Posters digital- Sara by Janis Fowler
Wide format (40” or more) display graphics digital- Fluence BioEngineering
Wide or grand format, interior/exterior scapes- Blue Sushi
Wide or grand format, special installation- Plank Seafood Provisions

Award of Recognition:
Announcements & invitations digital- Open Door Preschools Fall Fete Invitations- designed by Buie&Co
Art reproductions digital- Aeons by Jona Burkhalter
Calendars, flat digital- Miller IDS 2022 Artists’ Calendar
Menus digital- Angie’s Mexican Food Restaurant Menu
  
At the regional award event in Dallas we were surprised with an additional 3 awards that are listed below. While these pieces won Best of Category in their specific area, the following awards are open to all “best of category” award winners, so the competition for them is much more intense.

Regional Awards
-Division II (companies with 26-75 employees): Silver award for Tetris Austin by Mila Sketch (art reproduction)
-Best of Central Texas: Platinum award for Plank Seafood Provisions (environmental graphics originally submitted for “wide or grand format, special installation”)
-Best of Digital Printing: Bronze award for Sara by Janis Fowler (art reproduction).

The environmental graphics installation at Plank Seafood Provisions in the Domain has been submitted for national judging and we hope that the praise for this creative design and installation will continue! Thank you to our amazing customers for trusting us with your projects and visions and to those who allowed us to enter their work into the GraphEx contest!

Congrats to all who won!

If you would like to get started on a project with our graphics team, reach out to Sydney Donelson at CSSR@MillerIDS.com.

April 2022 Featured Artist: Jeff Kovalcik

Jeff Kovalcik moved from his hometown of New Braunfels to Austin in 2002 where he finished his BA in studio art at the University of Texas in 2006. His career would meander a bit before he took a detour into the funeral profession where learned the importance of permanent memorialization. During this time, he was still making art but only as a hobby.
 
“I had been experimenting with scratchboard and had seen the realism achieved by other artists and I was enthralled by their work.”
His first scratchboard pet portrait began as a Christmas present in 2013 to memorialize a family pet. Little did he know, that after sharing that first portrait online, he would soon be dedicating his work to a new medium that captures detailed lighting and hyper-realistic textures unlike any he had tried before. After a few years of practicing his craft, he knew that he wanted to provide this service for pet lovers everywhere.
 
Thus was born, Kustompawtraits.com, Kovalcik’s endeavor to create custom and lifelike portraits of our little furry ones. He hopes to contribute to the pet loving community, by creating lasting art for their homes. The results are photorealistic and the black and white aspect allows a unique high contrast, perfect for portraiture.
 
“My goal as an portrait artist, is to create meaningful art that will capture the personality, the twinkle in the eyes, that little mole on their cheek, the spots on their fur and all the other little intricacies that bring your pet to life. I look forward to providing this service full time for years to come and hope I can create some truly unique “pawtraits” and relationships along the way.”
 
“I believe my first encounter with Miller Printing was when I was with the funeral home and drove a company vehicle down to their previous shop to get a window decal affixed to the side. Years later I had a show up at Kerbey Lane Cafe and wanted to get my work professionally scanned for better documentation. I remembered Miller, so I brought in a bunch of work and Dana Burton did such an amazing job. Sooo much better than my old iPhone 4s taking pics! Crisp blacks, and the crazy detail of the scans were sooo cool. So now, every time I finish one of the pet “pawtraits” or any of my other scratchboards I bring them down to Miller so Dana will take care of them.”
 
Contact Jeff:
Facebook: Kustom Pawtraits
Instagram: @kustompawtraits
TikTok: Kustompawtraits
Website: kustompawtraits.com
 
Contact our fine art specialist, Dana Burton, for more information on fine art scans and reproduction.