James Watts

James K. M. Watts has journeyed from the ancient rain forests of Australia to the Pagan landscapes of Lithuania seeking inspiration for his artistic vision. James was born in San Francisco. His earliest memories are the sound of crashing waves and the lonely call of foghorns, and drawing on the reams of white paper manufactured by a paper company started by his great-grandfather after the gold rush. The expansive beauty of the American West and the meditative work of the Nineteenth Century California Tonalist painters were his starting points. "I have always been enchanted by views and vistas and their relationship to the solitary wanderers who carry with them their own inner landscapes. The eye acts as a kind of threshold between these two worlds."

Beginning with traditional paintings on canvas, his work evolved into unique painting-sculpture hybrids. "Living in New York in the Eighties confirmed my long-held suspicion that painting on canvas was an exhausted enterprise." In many travels including wanderings through the western deserts of the United States, he sought out places where "culture and the landscape are inseparable. Where inanimate objects seem alive with an energy and presence."

James studied at U. C. Berkele...

BA, U.C. Berkeley
BFA, California College of Arts and Crafts