Among art’s contributions to the world is the way it can transport people. Think of how Monet’s impressionism can send one on a trip to the water lilies of Giverny or how Rothko’s blocks of color go beyond illustration by providing passage into one’s primordial emotions or feelings. Visitors to art museums go to see and appreciate paintings, textiles, sculptures, and installations, but they also go to enter different worlds, cultures, and perspectives. As a painter whose work arises from the natural world, Katherine Downey Miller cultivates this sense of transport. She also teaches painting, and from the early days of her career, she has added regional and global excursions to her palette. Miller says, “I love to travel, and I realized I can teach people to paint while I’m traveling.”

Miller’s teaching journeys have taken her to some fantastically gorgeous destinations—one of her first gigs took place at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado, and she followed this with a stint in Florence, Italy, on a teaching scholarship at the Studio Arts College International. Today, she continues to fill her creative well with fresh vistas and locations. She teaches on Nantucket, paints from different vantage points on the Cape, and she’ll venture to the South of France in 2026 to teach with Paint Away Tours. “I’ll probably go back to Greece again in 2026, too,” she muses. Also in 2026, she’ll launch a solo show at the Jane Deering Gallery in Gloucester. Recently, she has been leading classes at Concord Art, the New Art Center in Newton, and online at Winslow Art in Seattle. This spring, she branched out into Vermont, where the Woodstock Gallery represents her. All the while, the natural world...