Featured Performing Artist

DAVEY MILLER BIOGRAPHY: Very few people know what they want to be when they’re in kindergarten. Davey Miller was clearly among the minority. “I remember being pulled aside at school and asked to paint in a different room,” reminisces Miller, a local artist-surfer-musician.“They suggested to my mom to transfer me to a different school with an arts program that was better suited to my abilities.” The Ventura native remembers growing up with meager resources, raised by a single mom and older sisters. “Our 1963 Chevy wagon had no radio and my sisters and I just entertained ourselves by singing and harmonizing church hymns,” recalls Miller.

Pursuing Passions: Even though art and music came naturally to him, Miller decided to move to Oahu at the age of 20 to continue another childhood passion –surfing. Miller dedicated the next 20 years of his life to surfing and surfing alone. He made a living as a wave rider and garnered many awards. To this day, he holds the distinction of being the only California surfer to make it to the finals in Pipeline and Sunset and winning both spots. Surfers from Australia and Hawaii routinely make it to the finals. “I worked very hard at it and I feel very blessed,” says Miller. In 1980, at age 20, Davey Miller arrived on North Shore Oahu and cut himself out a niche as one of its top riders. He placed in the finals at Huge Pipeline and Sunset
Beach, and rode Waimea with only a handful of his peers. Charging with no fear or thought of bodily harm, Davey surfed solid for 20 years. At age 38 he reclaimed a final at Very Large Pipeline with 19 year-old Andy Irons. He also beat out Kelly Slater
at Sunset Beach in the semi-finals. Davey was mostly noted for being one of the top 10 surfers of all time at Backdoor Pipeline.

Ventura: Miller moved back to his hometown 10 years ago with his wife and children. “I wanted to raise them here where I grew up,” he says. The arts is very much alive in the Miller household. Miller’s wife was a stage actress in New York. Two daughters are seriously pursuing ballet, with the older one receiving a much-coveted scholarship to the American Ballet Theater in New York. Not much has changed since he left. Miller remembers bringing one of his daughters to school one day and realizing that there were no art supplies. He helped raise money for the school’s art program.

His Music: Miller left Hawaii for Ventura for his children’s education and because there was no “jazz scene.” “I didn’t realize it would be the same scenario here,” he laments. So he has been hard at work trying to bring jazz to Ventura as an avocation. Miller creates gigs for musicians who went to college and studied the craft. “It's an honor to be playing with guys who are better than me because I’m learning too,” says the self-taught drummer and singer. Miller uses musicians from LA and brings them to local venues, musicians who have played with different bands including the side men of Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Sting, Stevie Wonder and many others. They play at the Ventura Harbor, regaling listeners from downtown LA and other nearby areas. “For years, I grew up listening to jazz music and I surf with jazz music in my ears,” Miller explains. He counts Stanley Clark, Miles Davis, Bill Evans and Nat King Cole as his early inspirations.

His Art
While his forte is nature or surfing-inspired paintings, Miller also works on abstracts and prefers to use acrylics, lacquer, transparent and translucent paints. “I paint all-day long,” Miller describes his days. He turns to nature for inspiration and it’s also not unusual for him to be listening to jazz music while wielding his paintbrush. “Jazz music moves my hand”. He mainly works on commission and sells most of his paintings in the $3,000 to $30,000 range. Gerry Lopez, Nat Young, Tommy Curren, Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia, Bob McKnight of Quiksilver, Paul Naude of Billabong and many other world champion surfers have bought his paintings. He has worked on some big projects for the Los Angeles International Airport and Warner Brothers.
“My art is really a reflection of what I’ve seen and done in my life."

Davey Miller supports our "Help The Kids" fund raising cause.