Jacob C. Miller is an artist and educator living and working in Southeast Texas. Born 1979 in Port Arthur, Texas, Miller earned his BFA in Studio Art from Lamar University (2002) and an MFA in Painting with a minor in Printmaking from the University of Iowa (2008). Following an early interest in traditional drawing and painting techniques with a particular focus on figuration, Miller shifted to exhibiting increasingly experimental and free-form abstract paintings under the nom de guerre Jakob Christmas; his current paintings encompass a variety of methods, materials and art-making strategies, from pure abstraction and non-objective improvisations to automatic drawing, text-based art, collage, portraiture, narrative and representational figuration - often in the same work. 

Miller’s paintings are in the permanent collections of Texas Tech University and The University of Iowa as well as in many private collections; his painting HAF JC (2009) was licensed for Swedish fashion label Acne Studios’ Spring/Summer 2014 menswear line; in 2019 he was commissioned to paint the album cover for Home Free’s Dive Bar Saints vinyl release.

A selection of Miller’s neo-lyrical abstractions were included in the 2020 iteration of Lamar University’s alumni exhibition After School Special; in 2022 he co-curated The Steve Hodges Collection and Steve Hodges: Interference Patterns - concurrent exhibitions hosted by The Art Studio, Inc. and the Dishman Art Museum highlighting the art of former Lamar University Professor (and Miller’s late mentor) Steve Hodges. Miller has recently returned to Lamar as an adjunct instructor, teaching drawing courses for the Department of Art & Design since 2022.