The pre-order sale for the forthcoming graphic novel on Edgar Miller
by Hannah Dykstra and Jeff Kruse is now live!

The 160-page book–– complete with original artwork and text–– will be published in Spring 2026 by Edgar Miller Legacy. An update about exact publication and shipment date to come.

Pre-Order Options

We invite you to purchase a pre-order copy of the graphic novel by choosing one of the different tiers below. You can also make a small donation along with your pre-order purchase to assist in the printing of additional copies of the graphic novel to be donated to local schools and libraries.

All pre-order supporters will receive a special gift along with their copy of the graphic novel in appreciation of your extra backing during the pre-order period. Click on the options below to learn more.

Support the sharing of Edgar Miller’s story with learners of all ages today!

Summary

A Total Work of Art: The Story of Edgar Miller explores the life of the prolific and multi-talented Chicago artist Edgar Miller. The story starts in his childhood on the Miller family homestead around the turn of the 20th century in Idaho Falls. The story follows Miller’s time as an enterprising young artist who designed the architecturally fearless Handmade Homes during the 1920s and ‘30s, all the way to his participation in preserving the buildings in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood in the 1980s and ‘90s.

Miller made art in over thirty different types of media, in nearly every year of every decade of the 20th century. A lifelong student of art, history, and philosophy, Edgar’s work was affected by a number of major world events, including the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, the Century of Progress World’s Fair, and the Second World War. Along the way, Miller was personally influenced by several prominent artists and designers, including George Bellows, Alfonso Iannelli, Jesús Torres, Andrew Rebori, Carl Sandburg, and Frida Kahlo. The novel also shares the story of those that were especially attracted to Miller’s art and design, including the Chicago-based civil rights activist and philanthropist Lucy Hassell Montgomery.

While the modern world helped shape Miller’s personal philosophy on art, creativity, and legacy, the narrative highlights the challenges that he faced over the years, as he worked to have his monumental artistic visions come to light in an increasingly industrialized and commercialized landscape. Miller is best known for his iconic Handmade Homes on Chicago’s Near North Side that incorporated an eclectic array of design styles, built with a variety of unconventional materials and techniques; and the book explores just how his many bold ideas came to be. Spanning every decade of the 20th century, the novel concludes with tales from Miller’s last years, which he spent working with a new generation of stewards to leave behind a lasting legacy, one that continues to inspire artists and lifelong learners to this day.

With art and design by graphic novelist and artist Hannah Dykstra and scripting by Edgar Miller Legacy’s Jeff Kruse, A Total Work of Art vibrantly illustrates Miller’s biography and vision for a more artistic world, inspired by Miller’s own recorded thoughts and writings. Appropriate and educational for both teens and adults, the novel explores the questions that Miller posed to himself throughout his life: what is the purpose of art, and why do we as humans feel so compelled to make it?

Publication forthcoming in Spring 2026 by Edgar Miller Legacy

Story by Hannah Dykstra and Jeff Kruse
Art & Design by Hannah Dykstra
Script by Jeff Kruse
Edited by Zac Bleicher

Art & Design

Click to see details of images below and to read quotes from the graphic novel.

Hannah Dykstra conceived of the idea of A Total Work of Art during an artist residency with Edgar Miller Legacy in 2020. She found Miller’s art and his continent- and era-spanning story personally compelling. Throughout her time working on the graphic novel, she has been directly inspired by Miller’s own practice, which spans dozens of types of media, including watercolor painting, woodblock printmaking, woodcarving, metal etching, stained glass window design, mosaic design, mural painting, and many others. Dykstra emulates and reimagines Miller’s aesthetic on every page of A Total Work of Art. Throughout the graphic novel, she uses the comic medium to enhance the interplay between art, text, story, and aesthetics.

As an artist and graphic novelist, Dykstra explores the relationship between history, place, and creativity—how we are shaped by our context, and how the very constraints that define us can be transformed or subverted into a source of profound creative freedom. At the center of her practice is how one experiences art through the lenses of narrative and physical space. She is drawn to the temporal quality of moving through an environment and how the stories we encounter there— both received and self-created— fundamentally shape our world.

“When I first experienced Edgar Miller’s artistically made environments in 2018,” Dykstra explains, “I was profoundly influenced by the idea of ‘living in a work of art.’ Thus, in the comic illustrations themselves, I sought to mirror what it’s like to step into the different spaces of his Handmade Homes—to capture the feeling of moving through his world. They’re exquisite and varied, yet obviously still Edgar Miller.”

Story & Scriptwriting

As Director of Operations for Edgar Miller Legacy, Jeff Kruse has had the opportunity to explore Miller’s story through the organization’s extensive collection and archive. He was drawn to the artist’s keen exploration of artistic styles from all time periods and Miller’s preoccupation with what art means on an individual level. When Dykstra initiated the graphic novel project, she partnered with Kruse to study Miller’s thinking across the many pages of Edgar’s manuscripts and hours of recorded interviews, in order to truly understand the artist’s thinking on the importance of art across human history.

While A Total Work of Art shares Miller’s personal journey over the course of his career, the graphic novel also follows the evolution of his artistic philosophy. For Miller, art was something as essential to humanity as language and was as natural a process as breathing. He paid little attention to the differences between fine art, applied art, and design. “Edgar Miller simply made all of his art his own,” Kruse says, “creating work that was functional, aesthetic, and that was often intended for public spaces and private homes, outside the traditional art market. He sought to live in a world where art was accessible and lived with everyday, created communally and never static. His art and his ethos were ever-evolving. He was always ready to explore new frontiers of creativity and creative processes.”

Miller was influenced by the idea of a Gesamtkunstwerk–– “a total work of art”–– a world made out of and within a work of art. The concept of “a total work of art” comes up throughout the story, and many different interpretations of the idea’s possible meanings are explored. Striving to make a total work of art was also the guiding principle of Miller’s life, as art was the singular language that a person could access to express themselves as perfectly as possible. For Edgar, a work of art was never really finished until it was able to truly influence and inspire someone else.

Graphic Novel Design Process
From Conception to Artistic Layout

Each page of the forthcoming A Total Work of Art graphic novel is full of inspired artwork and archived materials from the Edgar Miller Legacy archives.  Just like Miller’s own artwork and creative process, the graphic novel was made with input along the way from specific personal influences and ideas. Walk through Hannah Dykstra’s work process from ideation to final artwork below.