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Artist's Vision A Big Reward

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By SARAH ROTHWELL, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 24, 2007

LUTZ - Looking back on her life growing up in Plant City, Dee Youmans-Miller can't remember a time when she loved anything more than art.

'I've been an artist since I was little,' she said. 'It's a passion. It's like a part of me.'

Today, Youmans-Miller, 49, makes her living as a graphic designer and spends her free time painting acrylic pieces. She recently was chosen as the artist of the month for September by the North Tampa Arts League. Her art was displayed at the New Tampa Regional Library. Her paintings range in price from $60 to $450.

'Dee's art is very original,' arts league Vice President Mary-Ellen Bitner said. 'I love the way she always puts some collage in it, and I think she's very good technically.'

Her originality is one reason the Plant City native was chosen by the Tampa Bay Business Committee for the Arts to create the awards for this year's winning businesses.

Tonight, at a gala at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, the committee will present her work to eight businesses in Tampa deemed to be outstanding supporters of the arts. A ninth piece of her artwork will be retained by the committee, Bitner said.

Each of the nine pieces is a unique abstract panel that flows one to another.

'I created a continuous image with a verse from Jonathon Swift on it: 'Vision is the art of seeing things invisible,' she said.

Youmans-Miller landed the project by submitting a DVD proposal describing the idea.

'I used blues and greens to represent the land and the sea in Tampa Bay,' she said. 'It's a conceptual project.'

Youmans-Miller began her formal art training in the 1970s at Tampa Bay Technical High School. She traveled daily from Plant City to attend the school's highly selective art program. While attending, she learned how to translate her ideas into computer-generated art and experimented with different mediums.

After graduating, she moved to Tampa and studied art at the University of South Florida. There, she received a bachelor's in art history and a master's in art education. She taught at Remington College, a private Tampa college, and worked for the Tampa Museum of Art.

She and her husband, Craig Miller, own Full Throttle Intermedia, a media company.

'She's able to express what's inside of her in a visual way,' Miller said. 'She brings a lot of free-form creativity to the business.'

Full Throttle offers a variety of services, including video production, animation, motion graphics and architectural renderings. Recently, the company completed work on an architectural rendering for a developer in New Orleans. The project required a three-dimensional visual presentation of buildings along the waterfront.

'We created an idea of what the complex will look like when it's built,' Youmans-Miller said.

A love for graphic design is evident in Youmans-Miller's work. She often combines and layers images, creating a collage of paintings on one canvas. Because she works during the day, she paints mostly at night and on the weekends.

'It usually takes two to three weeks to do one painting,' she said.

Many of Youmans-Miller's paintings are of children's faces. She recently started a program called Love the Art, Love a Child. She paints images of children from all over the world who are struggling with poverty and disease. The proceeds from the paintings go back to the areas where the children are from.

'Her portraits Youmans-Miller calls them faces are very lifelike,' Bitner said. 'They're very colorful also.'

Youmans-Miller joined the North Tampa Arts League this year and is excited to spend more time with fellow artists.

'I love the group,' she said. 'We're supportive of each other.'

When Youmans-Miller talks about art, she smiles. She wakes up every morning ready to create something new.

'It's something I have to do,' she said.

Youmans-Miller lives in Lutz, but her parents and other family members still reside in Plant City.

'I come back every chance I get,' she said.

The artist's work can be viewed at www.deeyoumans .com.

Tribune reporter Jan Hollingsworth contributed to this story. Sarah Rothwell can be reached at (813) 865-4845 or srothwell @tampatrib.com.

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