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October 2016
Interview Jim Waid Tucson |
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Jim Waid. Photo: Tim Fuller
Jim Waid is an internationally-known artist from Tucson who has his works in public and private collections around the world. He is the winner of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a participant in the U.S. Department of State Art in Embassies program. He is represented by galleries in Phoenix, Chicago, Denver, and Tucson.
SAN: You’ve lived in Arizona a long time. Your biography says you are native of Oklahoma who came here in 1968. Was your relocation here for the purpose of getting your MFA at the University of Arizona?
Jim Waid: Yes, an MFA was part of the motivation to move to AZ. Also, we had been living in NYC for 3 years. Both my wife & I are from the southwest, and missed the light and space. However, I did, and still do, love NYC & go back to visit whenever I can.
We planned on only being here long enough to get an MFA, but fell in love with the Sonoran Desert, plus also got a job a Pima Community College upon finishing the MFA. I guess we got stuck on cactus.
SAN: You taught art at Pima Community College from 1971 to 1980. How do you think those nine years as an art teacher affected the development of your career as an artist? Did your teaching experience help move you along? Or did it slow you down?
JW: Teaching at PCC helped me clarify ideas about the basic tenets of art making. Teaching design and drawing and painting helped make the fundamentals stronger in my own mind and work. Also it provided a living. When I started working at PCC, we already had three young children. During this time I started showing in Arizona and New Mexico and was beginning to made inroads elsewhere, started actually selling some work and feeling that maybe I could make a living at this. While I enjoyed aspects of teaching when I felt the opportunity was there for me to try and be a full time artist, I took it.
SAN: Do you miss teaching? Or do you think it was a relief to be in the studio full time? Do you ever teach workshops or short-term classes?
JW: It is a relief to be in the studio full time. I do miss kicking ideas around with students, plus there were and still are close friendships with other faculty from those days. I have occasionally been a visiting artist and schools around the country and also have taught some classes at both PCC and University of Arizona, but don’t do workshops or short term classes. I enjoy being around young people full of energy and promise, so miss that.
SAN: You’ve lived in Arizona a long time. Your biography says you are native of Oklahoma who came here in 1968. Was your relocation here for the purpose of getting your MFA at the University of Arizona?
Jim Waid: Yes, an MFA was part of the motivation to move to AZ. Also, we had been living in NYC for 3 years. Both my wife & I are from the southwest, and missed the light and space. However, I did, and still do, love NYC & go back to visit whenever I can.
We planned on only being here long enough to get an MFA, but fell in love with the Sonoran Desert, plus also got a job a Pima Community College upon finishing the MFA. I guess we got stuck on cactus.
SAN: You taught art at Pima Community College from 1971 to 1980. How do you think those nine years as an art teacher affected the development of your career as an artist? Did your teaching experience help move you along? Or did it slow you down?
JW: Teaching at PCC helped me clarify ideas about the basic tenets of art making. Teaching design and drawing and painting helped make the fundamentals stronger in my own mind and work. Also it provided a living. When I started working at PCC, we already had three young children. During this time I started showing in Arizona and New Mexico and was beginning to made inroads elsewhere, started actually selling some work and feeling that maybe I could make a living at this. While I enjoyed aspects of teaching when I felt the opportunity was there for me to try and be a full time artist, I took it.
SAN: Do you miss teaching? Or do you think it was a relief to be in the studio full time? Do you ever teach workshops or short-term classes?
JW: It is a relief to be in the studio full time. I do miss kicking ideas around with students, plus there were and still are close friendships with other faculty from those days. I have occasionally been a visiting artist and schools around the country and also have taught some classes at both PCC and University of Arizona, but don’t do workshops or short term classes. I enjoy being around young people full of energy and promise, so miss that.
JWaid_Flight Path_ acrylic, 2016
SAN: The biographical info I found on you says that you started out as a color field painter but moved into abstract landscapes. This move was said to be a result of taking your students out into the desert and painting there. Is this correct? Was being in the desert the primary reason you changed your painting style?
JW: When Pima CC was started they had not planned to have an art department so there were no dedicated facilities. We were teaching drawing, painting, photography, design and ceramics in the same rooms. I started taking students out to the surrounding desert just to have more room and an endless supply of subject matter. Little by little, I started looking more closely at the land, vegetation, etc, and became intrigued and entranced by the desert. It opened me up to processes of nature; genesis, growth, decay, ideas about environment, evolution, and much, much more that led to thinking about how to transfer those ideas into painterly ideas.
I would say I found my voice in the Sonoran Desert. Observing natural processes opened up the world for me. I don’t consider myself a southwest desert landscape painter so much as a “nature” painter who tries to understand the natural world through the expressive possibilities of paint. While much of my work certainly has a close relationship with the Sonora Desert, I also do paintings that look as if they came from the tropics, or the forest. Any place or landscape I visit can suggest ideas to work with.
SAN: Your paintings are very colorful, and with a barely-contained energy. Although I can see why they are viewed as “abstract,” to me many of them are clearly informed by the desert environment. Do you still go into the desert to paint, or do you work mostly in the studio?
JW: I use to spend a lot time hiking in the desert, sitting, observing, sometimes drawing, but basically just looking and thinking. Then I came back to the studio to work---I rarely did much work outside, so I guess I have always been a “studio” artist. As I have gotten older, it is physically harder for me to hike like I use to. However, we live on three city lots and have created a lush desert garden that nourishes me continuously with ideas. We also have a cabin in the mountains in southern New Mexico, and it provides a material also. When we travel we frequently visit botanical gardens.
JW: When Pima CC was started they had not planned to have an art department so there were no dedicated facilities. We were teaching drawing, painting, photography, design and ceramics in the same rooms. I started taking students out to the surrounding desert just to have more room and an endless supply of subject matter. Little by little, I started looking more closely at the land, vegetation, etc, and became intrigued and entranced by the desert. It opened me up to processes of nature; genesis, growth, decay, ideas about environment, evolution, and much, much more that led to thinking about how to transfer those ideas into painterly ideas.
I would say I found my voice in the Sonoran Desert. Observing natural processes opened up the world for me. I don’t consider myself a southwest desert landscape painter so much as a “nature” painter who tries to understand the natural world through the expressive possibilities of paint. While much of my work certainly has a close relationship with the Sonora Desert, I also do paintings that look as if they came from the tropics, or the forest. Any place or landscape I visit can suggest ideas to work with.
SAN: Your paintings are very colorful, and with a barely-contained energy. Although I can see why they are viewed as “abstract,” to me many of them are clearly informed by the desert environment. Do you still go into the desert to paint, or do you work mostly in the studio?
JW: I use to spend a lot time hiking in the desert, sitting, observing, sometimes drawing, but basically just looking and thinking. Then I came back to the studio to work---I rarely did much work outside, so I guess I have always been a “studio” artist. As I have gotten older, it is physically harder for me to hike like I use to. However, we live on three city lots and have created a lush desert garden that nourishes me continuously with ideas. We also have a cabin in the mountains in southern New Mexico, and it provides a material also. When we travel we frequently visit botanical gardens.
JWaid_Chorale_acrylic, 2015
SAN: You have been quoted as saying, “, “I don’t want the paintings to be like you’re looking at a landscape. I want them to feel like you’re in it.” Please elaborate. What kind of spiritual/psychological/ecological/sensory experience do you want to elicit in the viewer?
JW: I am not interested in reproducing a likeness of the landscape. I am interested in creating work provides an experience that immerse the viewer in the kind of energy that excites the senses, both visually and tactile full of light and space that parallel the natural world. In this sense the paintings are not reproductions of what I see but “reenactments” of that energy I feel. One way to think of it is the paintings function more as verbs than as nouns.
SAN: The Sonoran Desert is imperiled in many ways. Given that our desert has been a main source of inspiration for you, do you consider yourself an advocate for Sonoran Desert conservation? Or do you stay away from issues that might be defined as “political?”
JW: I am a passionate believer in protecting our environment, and am worried about our ability to protect this planet for ourselves and for the generations to come.
SAN: You work mainly in acrylic paint and pastel on paper. It is unusual to see so many works in pastel on paper in a successful artist, and abstracts in pastel are not all that common either. What are the attractions for you of working in pastel?
JW: When I was teaching at PCC a representative from Grumbacher art supply company gave me a complimentary set of pastels. Once I started working with them I became enchanted with the process. For one, so many colors are at your fingertips without having to mix them that it makes for instant gratification. Plus one can work quickly and energetically, combining direct drawing and painting. It is also interesting to go from using a wet medium, paint, to a dry, colored dust medium. The immediacy and sensuality of pastels is very seductive.
JW: I am not interested in reproducing a likeness of the landscape. I am interested in creating work provides an experience that immerse the viewer in the kind of energy that excites the senses, both visually and tactile full of light and space that parallel the natural world. In this sense the paintings are not reproductions of what I see but “reenactments” of that energy I feel. One way to think of it is the paintings function more as verbs than as nouns.
SAN: The Sonoran Desert is imperiled in many ways. Given that our desert has been a main source of inspiration for you, do you consider yourself an advocate for Sonoran Desert conservation? Or do you stay away from issues that might be defined as “political?”
JW: I am a passionate believer in protecting our environment, and am worried about our ability to protect this planet for ourselves and for the generations to come.
SAN: You work mainly in acrylic paint and pastel on paper. It is unusual to see so many works in pastel on paper in a successful artist, and abstracts in pastel are not all that common either. What are the attractions for you of working in pastel?
JW: When I was teaching at PCC a representative from Grumbacher art supply company gave me a complimentary set of pastels. Once I started working with them I became enchanted with the process. For one, so many colors are at your fingertips without having to mix them that it makes for instant gratification. Plus one can work quickly and energetically, combining direct drawing and painting. It is also interesting to go from using a wet medium, paint, to a dry, colored dust medium. The immediacy and sensuality of pastels is very seductive.
JWaid_Julep_acrylic
SAN: Would you care to tell us more about how your mixed media works are created?
JW: Besides acrylic and pastels, I also work in pen and ink, some watercolor, monoprints, and for a number of years have been working with digital processes, sometimes mixing them all up together. So there are works with pastel & water colors, digital images with pastels and/or acrylics, monoprints with pastel and sometimes acrylics, sometimes collaging paint scraps into images in all mediums. Whatever my intuition suggest I use.
SAN: You were awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1985. How did that come about and what affect did it have on your art and your art career?
JW: I was fortunate to receive a National Endowment for the Arts in 1985. Artists submit ted their work and committees would choose who to award the grants. I had no idea who was on the committee. After receiving the grant I found out who was on the committee and I was not personally acquainted with any of them. So it was just based on the fact that they responded to my work enough to award me a grant. My wife and I used the grant to travel in Europe, visiting museums in many countries. I still draw off the work I saw, from modern to ancient during that visit. The work I saw inspired and encouraged me.
SAN: Tell us about the new book coming out about your artwork. Is it a kind of career retrospective?
JW: The title is JIM WAID PAINTINGS, published by Last Chair Media, Phoenix, AZ
The book includes an essay by MaLin Wilson-Powell, with an introduction by James K. Ballinger, Director Emeritus, Phoenix Art Museum. The book launch will be Friday, Oct 21, 6 - 9 PM at Bentley Gallery in Phoenix. This coincides with the opening of "Jim Waid: Terra Incognita," and exhibit of my paintings and works on paper. After the launch the book will be available at Bentley, Gallery, Phoenix, AZ; Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL, and William Havu Gallery, Denver, CO. It will also be available for order from my website, www.jimwaidart.com.
SAN: You told me that you’ve been able to make a living as an artist since 1980. How do you explain your success as an artist? What factors led to your success – other than being very good at what you do? What advice do you have for artists who want to make a living and build a career as an artist?
JW: I have been fortunate to have collectors who have responded to my work, many have collected multiple works. I have been associated with some terrific galleries who have worked tirelessly to promote my work. I have been represented at various times by galleries in Scottsdale, Santa Fe, New York City, Santa Monica, San Antonio, Chicago, Kansas City, Atlanta and Miami. Presently my work is represented by Bentley Gallery in Phoenix, Jean Albano Gallery in Chicago, and William Havu Gallery in Denver. I have also have an ongoing relationship with the Etherton Gallery here in Tucson.
Advice to artists is: make a lot art, look at art in galleries and museums as often as you can. Stay at it---longevity frequently brings rewards. Don’t do it unless you just have to. Keep making the work and showing it showing it as often as you can. Develop a thick skin. Be ambitious, especially in the art work you make.
JW: Besides acrylic and pastels, I also work in pen and ink, some watercolor, monoprints, and for a number of years have been working with digital processes, sometimes mixing them all up together. So there are works with pastel & water colors, digital images with pastels and/or acrylics, monoprints with pastel and sometimes acrylics, sometimes collaging paint scraps into images in all mediums. Whatever my intuition suggest I use.
SAN: You were awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1985. How did that come about and what affect did it have on your art and your art career?
JW: I was fortunate to receive a National Endowment for the Arts in 1985. Artists submit ted their work and committees would choose who to award the grants. I had no idea who was on the committee. After receiving the grant I found out who was on the committee and I was not personally acquainted with any of them. So it was just based on the fact that they responded to my work enough to award me a grant. My wife and I used the grant to travel in Europe, visiting museums in many countries. I still draw off the work I saw, from modern to ancient during that visit. The work I saw inspired and encouraged me.
SAN: Tell us about the new book coming out about your artwork. Is it a kind of career retrospective?
JW: The title is JIM WAID PAINTINGS, published by Last Chair Media, Phoenix, AZ
The book includes an essay by MaLin Wilson-Powell, with an introduction by James K. Ballinger, Director Emeritus, Phoenix Art Museum. The book launch will be Friday, Oct 21, 6 - 9 PM at Bentley Gallery in Phoenix. This coincides with the opening of "Jim Waid: Terra Incognita," and exhibit of my paintings and works on paper. After the launch the book will be available at Bentley, Gallery, Phoenix, AZ; Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL, and William Havu Gallery, Denver, CO. It will also be available for order from my website, www.jimwaidart.com.
SAN: You told me that you’ve been able to make a living as an artist since 1980. How do you explain your success as an artist? What factors led to your success – other than being very good at what you do? What advice do you have for artists who want to make a living and build a career as an artist?
JW: I have been fortunate to have collectors who have responded to my work, many have collected multiple works. I have been associated with some terrific galleries who have worked tirelessly to promote my work. I have been represented at various times by galleries in Scottsdale, Santa Fe, New York City, Santa Monica, San Antonio, Chicago, Kansas City, Atlanta and Miami. Presently my work is represented by Bentley Gallery in Phoenix, Jean Albano Gallery in Chicago, and William Havu Gallery in Denver. I have also have an ongoing relationship with the Etherton Gallery here in Tucson.
Advice to artists is: make a lot art, look at art in galleries and museums as often as you can. Stay at it---longevity frequently brings rewards. Don’t do it unless you just have to. Keep making the work and showing it showing it as often as you can. Develop a thick skin. Be ambitious, especially in the art work you make.
JWaid_Lark's Tondo_acrylic, 2016
SAN: What do you think would make life easier for the artists of southern Arizona?
JW: The main thing that would make life easier for artists of southern Arizona would be if people purchased more original art, especially from the artists that live in the community.
SAN: Is there anything you’d like to add that has not been covered here?
“Jim Waid--Terra Incognita,” an exhibit of my work will be held Oct 21 – Nov 12 at the Bentley Gallery in Phoenix. We will have the book launch and signing at the opening reception for the exhibit, Friday, Oct 21, 6 – 9 PM. I hope people in the area will have a chance to take a look
To learn more about Jim Waid, go to his website at: JimWaidArt
JW: The main thing that would make life easier for artists of southern Arizona would be if people purchased more original art, especially from the artists that live in the community.
SAN: Is there anything you’d like to add that has not been covered here?
“Jim Waid--Terra Incognita,” an exhibit of my work will be held Oct 21 – Nov 12 at the Bentley Gallery in Phoenix. We will have the book launch and signing at the opening reception for the exhibit, Friday, Oct 21, 6 – 9 PM. I hope people in the area will have a chance to take a look
To learn more about Jim Waid, go to his website at: JimWaidArt