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As you come around a bend on the Old Cornelia Highway -- just a few hundred yards past a giant concrete rabbit statue -- a cluster of brightly painted whirligigs and primitive animal cutouts give the first clue that youÆve arrived at the curious world of Georgia folk artist R.A. Miller.
The 85-year-old Miller first started creating his whirligigs (or windmills as he calls them) 10 years ago after glaucoma left him blind in his left eye and nearly blind in this right. While looking for something to occupy his time, Miller started creating windmills like the ones heÆd made as a child from wood, painted tin, bicycle wheels and whatever else was available.
His most popular creations are the tin red devils and patriotic Blow Oscars that youÆll find stapled to the sides of his tar-papered house and workshed. MillerÆs Blow Oscar is named after his cousin, who "used to go up and down the road all the time and blow at me. And his name was Oscar."
ItÆs right here, down the same dirt road, that R.E.M filmed a video in the late æ80s for their "Reckoning" album. And it was this video and the subsequent word of mouth that brought collectors and sight-seers to MillerÆs doorstep by the hundreds.
"I reckon IÆm knowed all over the world," a paint-splattered Miller says in a thick North Georgia accent, his speech punctuated by a steady stream of tobacco juice.
But fame hasnÆt much changed the man or his world. Miller, who worked in nearby cotton mills for 30 years and preached some on the side, still lives in the ramshackle house where he was born and where he raised seven children. And he still sells his "junk" for $10-$35, although galleries in Atlanta and New York sell his creatures for 10 times that and more. It appears that the only difference fame has brought is an assembly line of helpers and a steady stream of visitors.
Photos by Vince Allen
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If you go:
Bring cash; Miller doesnÆt take checks or credit.
Directions:
I-985 to exit 7. Go east on Old Cornelia Highway.
YouÆll see a rabbit statue on your left. Look on the right for the whirligigs overlooking the road, turn right before the windmills and follow the dirt road to MillerÆs shop.
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