广告公司老板, fine 艺术家 and alumnus holds first art exhibit in Allentown

宾州中央谷.-利哈伊谷居民, 艺术家 and entrepreneur 丹尼斯Aumiller has fond memories of his years in Happy Valley.

He started at University Park without a specific major or career in mind. 现在他认为这是积极的. “我告诉人们, 去大学公园有很多好处, 对我来说, was the ability to switch to various programs with a breadth of offerings,他说. Aumiller graduated with two undergraduate degrees — a bachelor of science in urban planning, 还有美术摄影学士学位.

这两个项目几乎没有共同之处, but Aumiller said the breadth and richness of offerings is the strength and beauty of the Penn State system. “I took everything from calculus to ceramics, human development courses, fine art courses. The richness of Penn State’s offerings allowed me to discover who I was, 培养我的美术背景,他说.

米勒在州立大学住了14年, six of which were spent earning his two degrees and working for the Centre Daily Times. “对于一个来自小镇的人来说，去美国.P. 是不是以最好的方式生活在一个城市里. 我去看戏剧，参加艺术展览，品尝美食. The friendships I developed over the course of six years enriched me as I went about my life,他说. The art department faculty and courses shaped his interest in fine art, which led to a satisfying pastime that ultimately informed his primary career in advertising.

在利哈伊山谷住了30年, it was Aumiller’s art degree that laid the foundation for his future professional path. “这是旅程中有趣的部分，”奥米勒说. “这是一次真正的文艺复兴经历. 我毕业时想在美术方面找到自己的出路. The reality was I found jobs in graphic design and advertising. 我有自己的经纪公司20年了. I moved from art director to creative director to owner of my own agency.”

Aumiller launched Lehigh Mining and Navigation with Scott Byers, his creative partner. He has found the advertising work fuels the artwork, and vice versa. “The creation of this work is an extension of the conceptual process I use in the ad agency. It’s about finding ideas and images that fuel the imagination. It’s conceptual problem solving — images and phrases that break through the clutter of boring advertising.他和拜尔斯从未打算创办自己的经纪公司, 但正如米勒所说, “We reached a point where we both had aspirations beyond what we were doing at the agency we worked at. We contemplated moving to Chicago or New York or some of the bigger creative centers to do higher-level work. I had children in school here and already had a connection to the Lehigh Valley, so we took a leap of faith and started our own agency to do the work we were envisioning, 希望是我们想要的那种客户. 我们没有错过一个节拍——我们有一个超级有创意的团队.”

He said, “I never set out to be a business owner — it wasn’t a goal of mine. 机会来了，客户也来了. 我们成长为该地区最顶尖的创意店.”

现在, after 30 years in advertising and putting his art on the back burner, Aumiller is “dipping back into that passion which was nurtured at Penn State.他的第一次原创作品展, Somnia Terra, 或者“梦想之地”,的作品正在伦敦的ARTHAUS展出. The 16 quirky, imaginative images evoke mystery that gets deeper the more one ponders them. “I have a fascination with science fiction and fantasy, and I’ve always had a passion for surrealism.” His influences include the dreamlike photomontages of Jerry Uelsmann and the surrealist paintings of Rene Magritte.

当米勒有足够的插图准备展出时, 安Lalik, gallery director and arts coordinator at 十大网赌靠谱网址平台, 是他最先联系的人之一吗. “She believed in what I was doing and made the introductions to the gallery at ARTHAUS. 然后我又去找安，她给了我一些建议. 我想要得到关于我所做的事情的反馈. I thought I would take a pause and have an exhibit — open myself up a little bit. I spent the last six months dealing with the business side of art. have a ton of ideas and am looking forward to getting back into the creative.”

Somnia Terra is on display at ARTHAUS in downtown Allentown, 645 W. 汉密尔顿圣.在伦敦，一直到10月. 14.