Artist's Statement

Artist's Statement"I paint my own world - my eyes are excited by what I see and I make poems about it."

About

A native Missourian, James Fenimore Wilson attended Missouri University before graduating with honors with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute. While in Kansas City, he was awarded a Full Fellowship to The Yale University Summer School of Music and Art. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam Era, after which he spent a summer in Wilberforce, Ohio in a "Black Studies" program. James received a Teaching Fellowship to the Graduate Program at Boston University where he later received an MFA Degree in Graduate Painting. While there, he received the President’s Drawing Award and was voted by the faculty as the Outstanding Graduate Painter for two consecutive years.

While in Graduate School James helped start the Bowery Gallery in New York City, where he also exhibited for several years. Allen Frumkin selected James to exhibit in a portrait show in his gallery. James also had one-man exhibitions in the Aaron Berman Gallery and was in many reviewed group exhibitions in such renowned galleries as the Phyllis Kind Gallery, The Blue Mountain Gallery, and the Munson Center for Creative Arts. He has had reviews in The New York Times, Arts Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, among others. He also helped start The Artist’s Choice Museum and cu rated the largest exhibition of living figurative artists – 156 artists in eleven galleries.

In 1990, James took a six month vacation to Alamos, Mexico. In Mexico, his work moved from the explosive competitiveness of New York Art to paintings that were involved with an intimate love of the human condition. James stayed in Mexico for ten years, married, and now has two children. In 2000, James and his wife moved to Missouri to educate their children in a first world nation.

Education

Boston University, MFA, painting 1969-1971

Yale Summer School of Music and Art 1967

Kansas City Art Institute, BFA Painting and Printmaking 1964-1967

Galleries

Compônere Gallery, St. Louis, MO 2004-present

Professional Experiences

Jim has garnered recognition as a teacher, lecturer, and has been extensively published. Throughout his career, Jim has earned many fellowships, honors and awards.

Sole Exhibits

Arte Bella Gallery, Fayetteville, AR 2003

Bellas Artes Gallery, San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico 2000

Museo Costumbrista, Alamos, Sonora, Mexico 1999

Wade Gallery, Taos, NM 1999

Vada's Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ 1998

Casa De Cultura, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico 1994

Vada's Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ 1993

Museo Costumbrista, Alamos Sonora, Mexico 1991

Davis Gallery, Tucson, AZ 1991

Museo Costumbrista, Alamos Sonora, Mexico 1991

AArt Vark Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 1990

Charles Moore Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 1983

Foster Hall Gallery, Louisiana Univ. Baton Rouge, LA 1981

Simons Rock Early College, Great Barrington, MA 1979

Aaron Berman Gallery, New York, NY 1977

Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, TX 1975

Bowery Gallery, New York, NY 1975

Group Exhibits

The Max Gallery, Tucson, AZ 2005

Bella Arte Gallery, Fayetteville, AR 2001-3

Coggswell Gallery, Vail, CO 2001

Lacoutoure Gallery, Ruidoso, NM 2000

Reflections Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 1999

Honor Kirk Gallery, Taos, NM 1999

Galleria Bella Artes, San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico 1999

Galleria Bella Artes, San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico 1997

Galleria Del Arte, Alamos, Sonora, Mexico 1995

Palacio - Festival Ortiz Tirado, Alamos, Sonora, Mexico 1995

Group Exhibition Davis Gallery, Tucson, AZ 1991

Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, NY 1990

American Art Today: The City The Art Museum, Florida International University, Miami, FL 1989

Realist Drawings Frumkin/Adams Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 1989

Nocturnes Charles More Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 1989

Group Show Koslow/Rayl Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1988

Figurative Imagination Henry Street Settlement, New York, NY 1988

Consciousness and Reality Charles More Gallery, New York, NY 1988

Square and . . . Ruth Segal Gallery, New York, NY 1986

Short Stories Curated by Judd Tully, New York, NY 1986

Interiors Curated by Garrit Henry, New York, NY 1986

One Hundred Years Celebration of the Kansas City Art Institute Nelson Atkins Art Gallery, Kansas City, MO 1985

The First Eight Years Artists Choice Museum, New York, NY 1984

Sign and Symbol Charles More Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 1984

Sweet Dreams & Nightmares Charles More Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 1984

Images & Imagery Works on Paper, Pace College, New York, NY 1984

Selected Paintings from the Figurative Alliance, New York, NY 1984

City Visions Charles More Gallery Philadelphia, PA 1984

Brights Lights Big City Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, NY 1984

Bowery on the Bowery Bowery Gallery Wooster St., New York, NY 1983

Personal and Intimate Charles More Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 1983

Drawings . . . Gallery Artists Charles More Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 1983

Summer Light Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA 1983

The Nude Charles More Gallery, Philadelphia, PA 1983

Bodies and Souls A.M. Sachs, New York, NY 1983

Collections

Mr. & Mrs. Patrick O'Neal, New York, NY

Mr. & Mrs. Caroll O'Connor, Los Angeles, CA

Mr. & Mrs. John Parker, Rancho Santa Fe, CA

Mr. & Mrs. Clay La Force, Los Angeles, CA

Graduate School of Business UCLA, Los Angeles, CA

Casa Pacifica (UCLA). Alamos, Sonora, Mexico

Mrs. Gilbert Richards, Alamos, Sonora, Mexico

Mr. & Mrs. Wax Shriver. Shriver Gallery, Taos, NM

Mr. & Mrs. Leon Bently, Scottsdale, AZ

Mr. & Mrs. John Stewart, Alamos, Sonora , Mexico

Updated: 2010.12.05

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