Phoenix-Based Artist and Philanthropist Robert Miley Takes Art and Activism to New Heights

Phoenix-Based Artist and Philanthropist Robert Miley Takes Art and Activism to New Heights

PHOENIX, May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Phoenix-based artist, educator and philanthropist Robert J. Miley's epic sculpture "Release The Fear" will be featured in Atomic Flame: Three Minutes To Midnight, a new documentary film to be screened at July's G8 Summit in Japan and then released nationwide in the U.S. The 25' monumental work has been an iconic part of the downtown Phoenix landscape since 2005.

Miley left a Clio award-winning career in advertising two decades ago to pursue fine art, with his most recent exhibition being the ten-canvas painting installation "Human Inertia" at West Valley Art Museum in Surprise, AZ. In addition to winning renown for his sculpture, paintings and public art, he's recognized for using his art to "build a bridge to empathy." This aspect of Miley's work was recently celebrated when he designed a logo for the Universal Archconfraternity of Saint Philomena. Miley was inspired to do the commission because of their mission to help children, and his artwork was blessed by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in January.

Miley is also widely respected for his humanitarian efforts developing programs utilizing art and creativity as healing tools. Chief among them is the non-profit organization Release The Fear (RTF), founded in 1996. Its mission is to help reverse the tragic effects of violence in our communities by promoting conflict resolution through education and art. Miley's 17,000-pound sculpture, a visual symbol of their work, incorporates four tons of melted-down weapons previously used in violent crimes.

RTF's inclusion in Atomic Flame -- a film by Matt Taylor, Executive Director of the Global Nuclear Disarmament Fund -- is a fitting tribute to Miley's intent in creating the work. Narrated by Martin Sheen, it chronicles the pilgrimage of Japanese monks from Hiroshima and Nagasaki on a peace mission to return atomic bomb embers to the Trinity Test Site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Miley hopes the film will draw wider support for RTF's community intervention and curriculum designed to decrease violent behavior and create possibilities using art and creative expression. RTF's work has been honored with an NEA grant, and Miley is expanding the program's reach through the "Rippling Effect," a series of trainings and workshops that will allow facilitators to bring its message beyond Arizona.

Other initiatives include developing curricula -- focused on diversity and empathy -- related to Miley's children's book The Coloring Book Of Love And Understanding, incubated through a pilot program with fourth grade ESL students at Phoenix's Excelencia Elementary School. With "Turning Artworks Into Waterworks," Miley is working with Rotary clubs to bring fresh, clean water to communities worldwide. He began the program by donating 120 lithographs from his acclaimed "Aqua Equus" equestrian series to raise seed money.

Later this year, Miley's seventeen-foot sculpture "Spirit From Within" will be installed outside the new Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel in the revitalized Phoenix Civic Plaza.

                           For more information:                           http://www.rjmiley.com/                       http://www.releasethefear.org/  

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Source: Robert J. Miley

CONTACT: Michael Jensen, +1-626-585-9575, info@jensencom.com, for Robert
J. Miley

Web site: http://www.rjmiley.com/
http://www.releasethefear.org/

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Profile: International Entertainment