New Centerboard curator looks to take nonprofit national

LYNN – Artist Adam Miller has been tapped to bring his vision, as a curator, to Centerboard’s Visionspace Gallery.”We’re hoping Adam and his network will be able to bring the gallery up to the next level,” said Centerboard’s Director of Special Projects, Carla Scheri.Centerboard is a nonprofit working to better the city through education, art and community outreach.Miller is a graduate of Montserrat College of Art with a BFA in Illustration. Scheri said he is best known for his work as a fine artist as well as for his time spent as the creative director for publisher Terminal Press. He has shown art from coast to coast.Scheri said Miller will continue to work with local and regional artists but the goal is to eventually take the gallery to a national level.”This year has been really good and this is one of the reasons,” Miller said.After traveling steadily for about two years, which Miller said “gave me a big boy resume and some valuable assets,” he has moved back to the North Shore in an attempt to put down roots.His attention to detail is what Miller believes gave him the edge to land the job as curator, something he has experience with but has yet to do full time.”I’ve curated millions of shows, I’ve done large group shows for colleges, solo shows and consulting work for galleries,” Miller said. “I’ve hovered around curating but this is the first time I’ve been given the keys to a gallery.”Before he agreed to the gig, however, Miller said he needed to know he and Centerboard officials were on the same page. There is great value in a community gallery used for school shows, civic groups and local artists but that is not what Miller had in mind.”There is very little for a curator to do in that situation,” he said.Fortunately his plan, to make the gallery a destination spot on a national scale mirrored Centerboard’s, he said.Miller’s first show, CHROMA, is coming up quick. Planned for Sept. 21, the exhibit will showcase works from a group of emerging New England artists. The event will also mark the launch of an art book of the same name, and will be part of a signing at the artist meet and greet that same night.Scheri said they are also looking to stage a Halloween-themed show and possibly a pop culture exhibit with a Johnny Cash or “Big Lebowski”-themed show.”It’s not exactly reinventing the wheel but it might be reinventing it for this area,” he said.Before any of that happens, however, Miller said he will transform the gallery space to give it a slicker, industrial, contemporary feel. He said he wants visitors and artists alike to enter the gallery and know it’s a legitimate space and serious about art.”It’s grassroots, we’re building it up from the ground and I’m excited about the level of art,” he said.