When severe glaucoma forced Reuben Aaron Miller to stop working as a farmer and preacher at the age of 65, he turned to scrap metal and wood to keep himself busy. Over the next 20 years, hundreds of his handmade creations filled his roadside yard. According to biographical information published by the New Georgia Encyclopedia and his Wikipedia profile, Miller spent almost his entire life on the same piece of land where he was born in July 1912.
At his home in Rabbittown, near Gainesville, Georgia, Miller began making wind-powered whirligigs, cut-out animal figures and hand-painted tin signs. The rural property became a local landmark and later attracted international art collectors and major museums.
Director and painter James Herbert filmed Miller’s moving whirligigs and lawn sculptures for Left of Reckoning, a 20-minute short film made for the band. His work, which had once sold for just a few dollars, began fetching between $700 and $800 in art galleries.
“When he first started, we all laughed at him and said ‘Who wants that junk? When he started making money, we all wanted to help,” a neighbour recalled, according to statements preserved in reports by The Gainesville Times. Parts of Miller’s outdoor art display also appeared in the official music video for R.E.M.’s song “Pretty Persuasion”.
Religion and everyday life were major influences on Miller’s art. Many of his cut-out metal figures carried short messages written by hand. One of his best-known phrases was “Lord Love You. Biographical records from the Georgia Museum of Art show that his subjects included angels, devils, chickens, pigs, snakes and different types of dinosaurs. Some of the dinosaurs were inspired by nature documentaries he watched on television. He also made figures of well-known cultural characters, including Elvis Presley and Uncle Sam, alongside unusual people wearing top hats or smoking cigars. One of his most recognisable designs was a figure called “Blow Oskar. It was based on his cousin, who regularly honked his car horn while driving past Miller’s house. At first, some people in the local community questioned the value of his growing collection. Their views changed when they saw that he could make money from his work. Miller’s work began attracting attention beyond his local community in the mid-1980s, following a notable collaboration with Georgia rock band R.E.M. This brought his unusual artistic style to a national television audience. By the early 2000s, Miller’s sculptures had appeared on the cover of TV Guide magazine. The exposure brought art dealers, tourists and visitors from other countries to his property in Rabbittown.