Mim Mills – A Retrospective Art Exhibit

Mim Mills Retrospective Art Exhibit

Painting her Passion

August 27 – October 23
Opening Reception: September 17, 6pm

Miriam (“Mim”) Mills was a gifted watercolor artist whose talent and creativity shone through in her prize-winning paintings. 

In collaboration with her family, Milford Arts Council is proud to present a retrospective of her work.

As a past President of the Milford Fine Arts Council, she played an instrumental role in transforming the Milford train station into the council’s home.

Education and  Professional Life. Miriam pursued her education with great dedication, attending Cushing Academy, Bates College, and Tufts University. She built a meaningful career as an occupational therapist, beginning at Easter Seals and the VA Hospital before becoming the Director of Occupational Therapy at Yale Psychiatric Institute. Her compassion, professionalism, and commitment to helping others defined her work and earned her deep respect from colleagues and patients alike.

Miriam also served as president of the Fairfield County branch of the National League of American Pen Women, an organization celebrating artists, writers, musicians, and women leaders in the arts.

A master of traditional realism, Mim loved to paint things that had personal meaning for her.  Miriam shared her passion generously, teaching watercolor for many years and finding great joy in inspiring and encouraging her students. Her artistry, leadership, and kindness left a lasting mark on the communities she cherished.

About the Work

 Here is how Mim Mills, herself, described her painting process. 

These representational paintings are created by layering many thin transparent watercolor washes, one on top of the other.  As colors build up and show through each other, new colors are formed and depth is created.  Each painting takes several months to complete due to this lengthy process.  Mim works from original photographs and drawings, uses Winsor & Newton colors and 300# Arches paper.  Drawing and painting are very carefully executed to enhance clarity and crispness. 

Paintings include repeat patterns, or subjects.  In each painting there are parts that are very similar, but very different.  These various parts are played against each other to form a strong composition.  An appreciation of the uniqueness of each individual part is enhanced by the bold light that ties them together.    The repetitions of subject or patterns, overall, create an order of things and balance within the whole work.  These repeat patterns, the play of light, and the many layers of color contribute to the essence of the painting.  One of quiet and intimacy.

Biography

Miriam Amy Hugins Mills -Mim, was born in New Haven, CT on March 25, 1938. She was raised in Milford by her parents Hollis Norton Hugins and Gladys Amy Farnham Hugins.  She had an older brother, Calvin Farnham Hugins.  Mim attended the Milford Public Schools, graduating from Central Grammer School in 1951. She went on to Cushing Academy for High School, graduating in 1955.  She began a nursing program at Bates College 1956-1957 which was discontinued.   So Mim moved into an Occupational Therapy program at Tufts University, and graduated in 1960 with Honors.  

She married Thomas Sexton Mills, an Ensign in the US Coast Guard, in 1959.  For their Honeymoon, they traveled through CT, MA, VT, and NH to Montreal and returned to CT.  They had a daughter, Lori Anne Mills Rapuano in 1961.  They divorced in 1963 , and Mim moved back to Milford to stay. She met Don Breiner through friends in about 1965 and they stayed together until Don passed away in 2016.

Upon moving back to Milford in 1963, Mim began her career in OT, working first for Easter Seals in Bridgeport, and then the VA Hospital in West Haven.  She later moved to The Yale Psychiatric Institute in New Haven, where she rose to become the Director of Occupational Therapy.

Mim loved to have fun and had many interests.  She liked to sing and play the piano, and to participate in activities with friends such as ballet and the Masonic Temple Rainbow Girls in grammar school, and  glee, chorale, hiking and bicycle club, and skiing at Cushing, and waterskiing after college.   She spent a lot of time in Vermont with Don, canoeing the Battenkill River, and skiing at Bromley and Stratton, as well as the western US, Canada and Europe.  They traveled with groups of friends around the world.

Mim also loved art, taking classes every chance she had.  Mim was a prize-winning watercolor artist, who was in numerous local and regional shows, including many one person shows. She enjoyed sharing her love of art and taught watercolor classes at her home in Milford for many years.  She loved her students like family.

She grew into a local leader in the arts. Active in the Milford Fine Arts Council, she was elected Chair of the Visual Arts Committee, and then President of Milford Fine Arts Council, 1991-1993.    Mim was instrumental in working with the Town of Milford to repurpose the old train station into a Milford Arts Council building – a several year effort culminating in 1996. She was also active in several arts oriented groups including:  The Milford Art League, The Connecticut Watercolor Society, and The Northeast Watercolor Society. In recognition of her achievements in art, she was invited to join the Fairfield County branch of The National League of American Pen Women. Again, she rose to become President of the Penwomen for several years.

On a family note, her ancestors have been in Connecticut and Massachusetts for many generations. Her parents researched their ancestry back through 10 generations, to Plymouth, MA, resulting in Mim being a Lifetime Member of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants through ancestors John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.

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