An MCM gem in Oklahoma reveals an artist’s style.

By Carrie McConkey

THERE IS NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE HOME’S INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR MATERIALS. THE STONE, GLASS AND GRAY AND CHOCOLATE-COLORED GROOVED WOOD PANELING CAN BE FOUND THROUGHOUT, CREATING A HOLISTIC FEELING FOR THOSE WITHIN IT. “I REMEMBER THINKING A FEW YEARS AFTER MOVING IN, ‘WHY DON’T I SIT OUTSIDE ON THE PATIO ANYMORE LIKE I DID IN MY PREVIOUS HOME?’” HOMEOWNER RIC MILLER SAYS. “IT’S BECAUSE YOU’RE OUTSIDE WHILE YOU’RE INSIDE.”

Photography by Mel Willis

RIC REMEDIED LIMITED WALL SPACE ON WHICH TO DISPLAY ART BY DESIGNING THE PEDESTALS SEEN IN EACH CORNER OF THE LIVING ROOM. HEAVY CUSTOM DRAPERIES THROUGHOUT THE HOUSE THAT WERE OBSTRUCTING THE VIEW WERE REMOVED, DONATED TO A LOCAL NONPROFIT AND REPLACED WITH PINPOINT ROLLER SHADES. NATURAL STONE SURROUNDING THE FIREPLACE TRANSITIONS INTO THE PATIO WALLS SEAMLESSLY BLUR THE LINES BETWEEN THE HOME’S INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR.

In the late 1980s, artist Ric Miller was working as a graphic designer in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and needed a model for a print-ad campaign. He was looking for an everyday guy to portray an older male relaxing in his retirement.

“I thought of George, my friend from the gym,” Ric says. “George was a good-lookin’ man with a great head of gray hair!”

George Seminoff was a respected local architect known throughout Oklahoma City for his Mid Century Modern designs. He agreed to be in Ric’s photo shoot and the ad campaign was a success. Neither man could have imagined, however, the impact that George’s work would have on Ric’s personal life years later.