Stephen McMillan - prints and biography

Biography

Stephen McMillan, born in 1949 in Berkeley, California, is an American printmaker known for his masterful aquatint etchings that explore the quiet presence of natural landscapes. Raised with expansive views of the San Francisco Bay, McMillan developed an early and enduring connection to the natural world, which has remained central to his artistic practice.

Working primarily in aquatint etching, McMillan draws freehand from photographs he takes during extended explorations of wilderness areas, particularly in California and Washington. His prints translate subtle shifts of light, shadow, and terrain into finely modulated tonal fields, resulting in images that evoke stillness, balance, and reflection. This contemplative approach places his work in dialogue with artists on this site such as Micah Schwaberow, whose landscapes similarly emphasize atmosphere, time, and the experience of looking.

McMillan earned his B.F.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1975, after first being introduced to etching in 1969. He later studied sculpture at Hornsey College of Art in London, an experience that further sharpened his sensitivity to form and spatial structure. Across painting, drawing, and printmaking, his work reflects a disciplined engagement with craft and an understated emotional range, qualities that also resonate with the restrained figurative work of Art Werger.

Throughout his career, McMillan has remained deeply involved in the printmaking community. He worked at the Graphic Arts Workshop in San Francisco from 1975 to 1979 and later served as an artist-in-residence at the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley from 1979 to 1992, where he taught printmaking and authored technical articles on aquatint etching. He established a home studio in Petaluma, California, in 1992 and relocated to Bellingham, Washington, in 2006, where he continues his practice.

McMillan’s work is held in numerous public and private collections, reflecting a sustained contribution to contemporary American printmaking. His images offer a measured, attentive vision of the landscape, inviting viewers into moments of quiet observation and reflection.

Public Collections Featuring Works by Stephen McMillan

• Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
  Houses The Slot #8 (1983), an aquatint etching that exemplifies McMillan's precision and atmospheric depth. Brooklyn Museum+1missiongalleryart.com+1

• Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
  Includes McMillan's works in its collection, highlighting his contributions to contemporary printmaking.

• Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, California
  Features pieces like Monterey Cypress, reflecting McMillan's connection to Californian landscapes.
  

Narrative Landscape

Artists who use landscape as a stage for memory, migration, and symbolic storytelling.

• Jos Sances

• Trevor Southey