About Carol MacMillan

The first introduction to being an artist came in fourth grade in West Palm Beach, Florida, when MacMillan won the "Be Kind to Animals" poster contest. The prize was five silver dollars and an appearance on the local children's afternoon television show — an early glimpse of how drawing, care, and public visibility could meet.

That same year she began painting classes at the Norton Gallery School of Art, studying tempera with Marian Lundgren. She soon moved into the older students' oil class with George Jenkins, working from still life and learning traditional methods of paint, brushes, color mixing, and application. From fourth grade through high school, these sessions began a lifetime dedication to color.

Classes later continued with Robert (surname unrecorded) as teacher, bringing new levels of understanding and challenge. Working from live models and still life, his approach began to introduce the concept of abstraction into the work.

During high school, MacMillan took a paying job in an advertising office, initially checking proofs on Saturdays. The work soon expanded into illustration, typography, and ad production using the methods of the time — rubber cement, T-squares, Linotype, and layout on paper. These skills evolved into graphic design as a parallel, paying practice throughout her working life.

Visual arts became her major at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, with additional courses at the Rhode Island School of Design. Professors Hugh Townley and John Udvardy were major influences during many hours in the studio, expanding the possibilities of material, form, and composition.

Through early years of marriage, children, friendships, and community life in Stuart, Florida, painting continued steadily. Many canvases and works on paper were made, with commissions and sales supporting the ongoing practice.

Acrylic paint, introduced during college, made working on paper particularly exciting for color. Boats and abstract forms centered the growth of her painting style and the deepening study of color relationships.

A career move to Tallahassee brought work in the public relations office of the Treasurer/Fire Marshal/Insurance Commissioner (now the Chief Financial Officer) in the Florida Capitol. Twenty-three years passed quickly in this role, through multiple elected bosses and a gradual transition into technology, with web work becoming a specialty.

Throughout those decades, painting remained active. Plein air and interior pieces in acrylic and graphite on paper were made, while the lure of abstraction continued to grow and gradually moved the work away from straightforward representation.

Retirement brought an almost full-time dedication to art. Living in Shell Point, south of Tallahassee on the water, meant years of sailing and painting. Boats, shoreline scenes, and color abstraction evolved further in the changing waterfront light.

Working with acrylic markers introduced an immediacy and intensity to the process, allowing drawing and painting to merge directly on the surface.

A move to California to Marina Bay in the East Bay (via two years in Ukiah) brought MacMillan back to the waterfront and to many sailing boats. Her studio at the Firehouse Art Collective in Point Richmond is also on the water, situated in a marina.

The combination of coastal light and a sophisticated local audience has brought new life to the painting practice, deepening an ongoing exploration of color, abstraction, and constructed space — paintings as rooms and environments people can inhabit over time.