Jesse Miller was born and grew up surfing in in San Diego. He always wanted to go to Hawaii where the water was warm, and the waves were good. When he started thinking about college, he learned about Brigham Young University - Hawaii, and couldn't think of going anywhere else. BYU-H is a small university in Laie, exactly 10 miles from Sunset Beach. He looked the programs they offered, and the Fine Arts program looked good. Before that, he never really thought about art, much less producing it, but once he got to school, he threw himself into everything head first. The surf was everything he had imagined, and the art program was exactly what he hoped for. He started out like any beginning art student, but persisted and practiced and by the time he graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Art degree, he had won several awards in college art shows.

After living in Hawaii, he came back to San Diego to continue to paint. He soon got a job with the City of San Diego as a beach lifeguard and he worked seasonally for years before he promoted to full time. He finds a lot of inspiration being at the beach all day, every day. It isn't as easy to be in touch with the ocean when you don't live right by it, and that has always been an important part of Jesse’s work, so he spends as much time at the beach as he can.

He has shown his work in galleries in Hawaii and California, and has participated in many art shows shows around San Diego. He has been asked to be a juror for several art competitions, and has done demonstrations and workshops for many art associations, including the San Diego Watercolor Society. Most recently, he participated in a surf art show co-hosted by the Oceanside Museum of Art and the California Surf Museum, where his work was shown alongside some of the greatest surf artists of the genre.

Almost all of Jesse’s work is inspired by the ocean. He has spent his life up to now surfing, and that plays a big role in what he sees, and what he wants to show others. Not just the act of riding a wave, but the whole culture surrounding it. But he looks to more than just surfing for inspiration. While he enjoys painting waves and seascapes, he really loves to show how wildlife and people interact with the ocean. His main goal as an artist has always been to share the beauty and allure of the ocean, and all that happens around it. It's a beautiful thing.

About Jesse Miller